Long wait and travel times interfering with Labrador medical services: survey

The mayorof Happy Valley-Goose Bay is optimistic about health care reform in Labrador after meeting with provincial officials on Tuesday.

"We're not asking for anything that other regions of the province don't have," Mayor Wally Andersen said.

Andersen and the town have been pushing the provincial governmentfora health board that is Labrador-specific, rather thanhaving people travel to St. Anthony, on Newfoundland's Great Northern Peninsula,and St John's for care.

• Happy Valley-Goose Bay mayor calls for Labrador-only health authority

"We are not here to take anything away from St. Anthony, but rather to stress the point that Labrador needs its own health board," he said.

Over450 people from all over Labrador responded to Happy Valley-Goose Bay's survey on community health care.

Roughly three-quartersof those that responded said they faced long wait lists to receive care, or that theservices they neededwere not availablein their communities.

"A lot of us can tell stories of waiting and waiting and waiting, cancelled appointments, rescheduled missing because of flights that you can't get to the island," Andersen said.

Thirty-twoper centsaid they were unable to afford the travel necessary to access health care, while24 per cent said they had been unable to arrange travel to get at the services they needed.

"We can all relate and yes, many times I've seen family members and friends some who fall by the wayside unfortunately that [are] waiting for that appointment," Andersen said.

"If we had certain services provided here, it would cut down on the expenses of the people travelling down from the coast on to St. Anthony or on to St. John's."

Andersen recognizes it can be difficult to keep specialty positions staffed in a region such as Labrador, but says they are making improvements which can attract and help hang on toprofessionals.

"We believe that the wellness centre, it will help attract enough professional people here to the Lake Melville area," he said.

Beginning of a process

Mayor Andersen was optimistic about this week's meetings with provincial officials and lauded them for the recent changes that weremade to mental health services in Labrador.

• No more wait lists for mental health services in Happy Valley-Goose Bay

"This is not the end of a process," Minister of Health and Community Services JohnHaggiesaid.

"This is really a step in a discussion that will continue yet for some time to come."

Haggiesaid that a new regional health board for Labrador was not a main focusof the discussions from his point of view, but rather they focused on the quality of care available.

"[The] location of service, who needs what given the changing demographics of the communities in Labrador,"hesaid,"that's what we focused on."

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