by JENNIFER LAVIOLETTE

Every rural community has many issues to face and deal with. Even for an International Communities In Bloom Championship winning town like Boissevain, we still have crises to overcome. The most urgent issue for our community is the possible closing down of our hospital due to a shortage of medical staff.

“If you lose your hospital, you lose the heart of a community,” noted Dr. Meyer Nell.

To address the situation even further, a Health Care Crisis Meeting was held on Tuesday, September 26 at the Boissevain Community Centre. Over 200 people were in attendance along with newspaper, television and radio media.

When I first heard about the staff shortages at the hospital I didn’t think it was my problem, but once the reality of it all sank in, then I realized it’s everyone’s problem, said Ken Pringle, emcee of the evening and Vice President of the Boissevain Morton Foundation. The foundation is currently working towards financially supporting the sponsorship program.

“This is an extremely critical situation,” commented Mayor Ed Anderson, “in times like this we as a community must be proactive, not reactive.”

Anderson addressed when Dr. Mairi Burnett left the Boissevain Medical Clinic last year and how Dr. Meyer Nell worked 29 days straight, round the clock to cover the staff shortage. This poses the risk of burning out hospital staff and is unfair to the staff to cut themselves short like that. Along with doctor shortages, Boissevain faced a situation this summer where there was no ambulance in service for eight days due to staffing shortages in the Emergency Response Unit forcing us to rely on Killarney’s ambulance service. Boissevain Hospital Client Care Coordinator Karen Taylor has had to cover 56 shifts from casual nursing positions and will have to cover 26 shifts from September 15 to October 11.

“We must thank our hospital staff for all the holidays, weddings, and special occasions they have sacrificed to provide constant health care to us,” mentioned Linda Ransom, President of the Chamber of Commerce.

Mayor Anderson expressed his concerns with the nursing situation in Boissevain. Over the next couple of years Boissevain can look at six to eight RNs retiring, which could leave the community’s health care dead in the water. As things stand, retired nurses are already working full-time to cover the shortages in the hospital.

Retired RN Lois Johnston blames the shortages in nursing on a few factors. Back in the late 1980’s and early 90’s, there was a surplus of nurses. The Canadian Nurses Association along with the provincial sector decreed there would be no more two-year nursing programs. These two-year nursing programs would graduate 300 to 400 students per year. When this program was cut out, a shortage in nursing graduates came about.

The LPN positions were being threatened at one time as well. LPNs weren’t allowed to practice what they were trained to do. Johnson also felt that the huge nurses strike in 1991 discouraged a lot of people from going into the field.

“When it all comes down to it, how much is your life worth?” asked Johnston.

To add to the frustrations of the situation, as of 2008 all nurses will need two other courses in order to practice or continue practicing.

Several members of the community asked questions towards the end of the meeting and some of them expressed their concerns.

“Are there no representatives from the ARHA here tonight?” questioned Bill Ransom. “Many of us have questions that need to be addressed by the ARHA.”

Anderson felt it was best not to ask the ARHA to attend the meeting because he wanted to have it dealt with on a local level and did not want members of the ARHA feeling like they are being attacked by the line of questioning. With many other rural areas facing a shortage of nurses and hospitals closing down, Anderson wanted the community to work together locally to resolve the situation and stressed that we as a community can not hire nurses without the ARHA, so we have to continue to cooperate and work with them.

Bill Dougall, a local resident, asked, “Is it not hard to hire nurses when we can’t guarantee them a full-time position? People are looking for some kind of commitment when it comes to employment and their future.”

Dr.Nell explained that when we hire someone at a .3 position, they could still pick up extra shifts. As of now the extra shifts are in abundance and will keep a person employed full-time. The main thing is to get someone’s foot in the door and get them employed. Smaller positions are offered now to get more nurses employed so that when other nurses working full-time do retire; we can then give them full-time positions.

A few upcoming graduates of the nursing program in Brandon expressed their concerns about working in a small community.

“Why would we come to Boissevain and work a .3 position when we can get a full-time term position in Brandon or Winnipeg?” questioned Erin Heinl a fourth year nursing student at Brandon University. “We have student loans to pay and would like to get a new house and car as well.”

“We don’t want to come down here and work all the crappy evening and weekend shifts,” added Kelly Todd, another fourth year nursing student at Brandon University.

“Many graduates come out of the BN program with the idea of either working administration positions and weekdays nine to five, but realistically that’s not going to happen. No one gets sick Monday to Friday nine to five and when you decide to become a nurse, you have to come to expect that,” noted Lois Johnston.

The sponsorship program is something the community has been working towards with great efforts and anticipation.

Medical student, Rikki Yahiro, has signed an agreement with the ARHA, town of Boissevain, and the R.M. of Morton earlier this spring. The agreement has the three organizations paying for his medical school fees in exchange Yahiro will work in the Boissevain Medical Clinic as a physician for an equal period of time. He is currently attending medical school in Hungary and will receive $15,000 for his first and third year from the ARHA and $20,000 for his second and fourth year from the Town and R.M.

Nursing student, Nicole McCorrister, has also agreed to a sponsorship of $7000 per year, for the next two years in exchange for a .6 position in Boissevain for the same amount of time as the sponsorship funding. McCorrister is currently living in Boissevain with her husband and family. She is in her third year at BU working towards her RN degree.

Boissevain is one of the communities that has quickly addressed a situation that many other communities are facing. Donation sheets were left on the tables for people who wished to contribute to sponsorship program in hopes of saving health care in their community. The only way the sponsorship program will work is if the community financially supports it. Town and R.M. Administrator, Lloyd Leganchuk, explained how people could make donations through the Credit Union, RBC, and at the Town Office. These donations will help the community to continue their search for other potiential applicants for the sponsorship program.

“There is no quick answer,” explained Lois Johnson, “it took us a few years to get in this predicament and it will take us a few years to get out of it.”