Staff shortages at Clarenville hospital putting lives at risk, patient's sister says

Some of eastern Newfoundland's most vulnerable citizens children and seniors are at risk if they require emergency care at the Dr. G. B. Cross Memorial Hospital in Clarenville.

The hospital is operating without an internal medicine specialist.

Two doctors left the region and athird started paternity leave last week. They won't return to work until April.

The hospital is also facing gaps in pediatrics.

With a catchment area of approximately 20,000 people, having no internist in the region means if someone has a heart attack in Bonavista, they will be transferred to Carbonear or St. John's. The drive from Bonavista to St. John's is more than 300 kilometres, and involves regional highways that can be tricky to navigate in rough weather. The distance from Clarenville to St. John's is 190 kilometres.

Sources working withinthe health-care system told CBC News that without a pediatricianthere is a reluctance to perform surgeries and caesarean section. That meansif a woman goes intolabour or requires an emergency C-section, the delivery must be donein Carbonear or St. John's.

Province warned in July

PC MHA for Terra Nova, LloydParrott, said he warned the provincial government of the upcoming vacancies of internists at the end of July.

Health Minister John Hogan was unaware of the issue until Nov. 1.

"[I] gave him all the opportunity in the world to fix this. I tried to do it the right way without coming in here and asking questions. I wasn't trying to politicize anything," Parrott said.

WATCH | Some people are worried about what isn't available at the hospital in Clarenville:

Crucial services unavailable in Clarenville can be difference between life and death: woman

4 days ago

Duration 2:16

The Dr. G. B. Cross Memorial Hospital in Clarenville is without an internal medicine specialist, as two doctors left the region and another started paternity leave. One woman said her sister was directly affected by this shortage.

Hogan told reporters last week that Clarenville has one internal medicine specialist who can work from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday to Friday.

"After hours, there will have to be some diversions," he said.

Parrott said Hogan was referring to the doctor who had just started their leave.

No babies born in Clarenville

As for the hospital's pediatric services, Parrott said the hospital won't have a pediatrician as of Nov. 5.

"Clarenville has always had the ability to deliver babies," he said. "In the coming weeks, we'll have a similar situation where if there's a newborn baby to be born, the mother is going to have to go to Carbonear or St. John's to give birth."

In a statement from Newfoundland and LabradorHealth Services, spokesperson Mikaela Etchegary said Dr. G.B. Cross Memorial Hospital has a pediatrician available on-site at all times, and pediatric and obstetric services remain available.

Health-care sources also told CBC News there are plans to fly in a health-care worker from Alberta bi-weekly to assist in the hospital's pediatric unit.

The Department of Health and NLHS did not confirm whether or not Clarenville is losing a pediatrician.

"My understanding is that anyone in that area should continue to go to the hospital for pediatric services,"Hogan told reporters on Tuesday.

No internist, no full resuscitation

Jean Butt, a resident of Bloomfield, said her sister, Mona Stewart, is impacted by the shortage of internists.

Stewart recently had a heart attack and requiresheart surgery.

She has spent the last six weeks in the hospital awaiting the procedure. Five of those weeks were spent at the hospital in Clarenville.

Theheart surgery will take place in St. John's. She doesn't have a date yet, but Butt said Stewart was informed on Oct. 31 Clarenville was losing its internal medicine specialist.

Butt said in case of an emergency, her sister signed papers stating she wanted a full resuscitation.

Without an internist, she said, the family was told that option was no longer available unless she was transferred to another hospital.

Internist shortage in Burin

The solution was to transfer Stewart to the Burin Peninsula Health Care Centre temporarily. She would then be transferred to St. John's for surgery.

But medical sources told CBC News that the hospital in Burin is also short on internal medicine specialists. That hospital hasone internist who works one week on and one week off.

Through advocacyfrom her family, she was transferred to St. John's to wait for her surgery instead.

"Facing her open-heart surgery and such,it's stressful," Butt said.

"We're three, three and a half hours away [from Burin] at least."

St. John's is closer to Stewart's family, and she won't have to be transferred a second time.

'Life and death'

For Butt, though, knowing the hospital in Clarenville is without an internist is unnerving, she said.

"If someone needed full resuscitation, it's not there. I mean, that's a scary thought for all of us," she said.

Hogan said internal medicine is a specialty that is challenging to recruit. Sourcestold CBC Newsthe specialty is core to a hospital's operation.

Butt said bringing attention to the shortages is a life-saving measure.

"This literally can mean the difference between life and death for residents of Clarenvillehospital service," she said.

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