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Grappling with 'insatiable demand' | June 1, 2009
Clinics aim to reduce strokes | February 28, 2008
Fraser Health faces budget squeeze | February 28, 2009
More hospital beds pledged | October 04, 2008
Regional Infection control unit | September 06, 2008
New Hospital Now Open! | August 26, 2008
Abbotsford Cancer Center | August 19, 2008
Hospitals's first day | August 13, 2008
Fraser Health gets cash | August 04, 2008
Junk food banned in BC schools | June 06, 2008
Grappling with 'insatiable demand'
by Jeff Nagel | Abbotsford News | June 1, 2009Fraser Health officials are bracing for more belt-tightening this year as the province tries to restrain health care costs that keep climbing even as the economy shrinks.
“We have an insatiable demand out there for services,” Fraser Health board chair Gordon Barefoot said. “Unfortunately, there’s no recession in health care.”
The region treated three per cent more patients last year and racked up 6.1 per cent more ER visits, 2.1 per cent more operating room visits and 15 per cent more hip and knee replacements.
Barefoot says total demand is rising by roughly four to five per cent a year from population growth and aging, and on top of that the region faces a three per cent annual cost increase built into its budget from negotiated wage hikes, amid other cost pressures.
Add it up, he says, and it’s easy to arrive at an estimate of 10 per cent annual cost growth for Fraser Health.
Last year’s spending rose 11 per cent to $2.4 billion – faster than the 9.3 per cent budget allocation Victoria had initially provided.
Faced with either a budget deficit or the threat of service cuts, the province opted to bail out several health authorities last summer, injecting an extra $45 million into Fraser Health.
The region eked out a $500,000 surplus for 2008-09, equivalent to just three hours of surgery. For 2009-10, however, Fraser Health had been told to expect a much smaller budget increase of roughly 4.4 per cent.
But since that increase is built on Fraser’s original 2008-09 budget allocation – not including the extra $45 million – Barefoot says it’s really equivalent to just a 2.7 per cent increase above what the region actually spent last year.
In other words, spending is rising almost four times as fast as funding.
Barefoot said his team has not yet met health ministry officials to explore options to manage the budget pressures.
“Obviously we’ve got some work to do,” he said, arguing the demand that led to last summer’s emergency cash infusion isn’t going away.
Barefoot said Fraser Health is doing what it can to find new ways to reduce costs.
Adding to the grim outlook are new estimates that suggest this year’s provincial deficit could end up three to four times higher than the $495 million Victoria had projected.
“We fully recognize that there are limits to what government can do in terms of funding,” Barefoot said.
Much work has already been done to merge various services that were run separately by the Fraser and Vancouver Coastal health authorities.
“One talented person can oversee things in two areas,” Barefoot noted. “It allows us to standardize services and it does help reduce some costs by not having things duplicated.”
The two regions now buy supplies and manage their supply chains together, as well as running common internal audit systems, security and parking contractors.
Barefoot could not say whether what he called the “measured” steps in integrating the two health regions so far will lead to a more formal merger.
“That’s not really our decision,” he said. “That’s the government’s call.”
Clinics aim to reduce strokes
Abbotsford News | February 28, 2009Fraser Health has opened three new stroke prevention clinics that promise speedy follow-up treatment for patients suffering mini-strokes.
The new clinics serving the region are based at Abbotsford Regional Hospital, Surrey Memorial and Royal Columbian Hospital in New Westminster.
Symptoms of transient ischemic attack (TIA) are like that of a stroke, but doesn’t last as long and doesn’t cause permanent brain damage. The so-called mini-strokes are considered a warning sign demanding an urgent response.
“Approximately one in 20 patients diagnosed with a transient ischemic attack in the emergency department will have a full-blown stroke within 48 hours,” said Dr. Kennely Ho, co-chair of the Fraser Health Stroke Strategy team. “Providing rapid access to follow-up treatment may help reduce the risk of stroke, and save lives.”
The $365,000 in funding for the new clinics is coming from the health services ministry under the B.C. Stroke Strategy, a provincial initiative to cut the number of strokes, improve quality of life for survivors and reduce the high costs associated with treatment.
In B.C., stroke is the leading cause of major disability in adults, the second leading cause of dementia, and the third leading cause of death.For more information see www.bcstrokestrategy.ca
Fraser Health faces budget squeeze
The boundary between the Fraser and Vancouver Coastal health authorities continues to blur as the two regions forge more partnerships to save money.
A long-awaited service plan for 2008-2010 for Fraser Health puts heavy emphasis on greater integration between the two authorities and with other province-wide shared health services.
The newly released document says “service integration and consolidation” between the agencies will combat “unnecessary duplication” and ensure the best use is made of buildings and staff.
Defenders of St. Paul’s Hospital in downtown Vancouver fear a scenario where the two authorities merge and some of St. Paul’s specialty programs are relocated to Metro Vancouver’s eastern suburbs.
Fraser Health board chair Gordon Barefoot said he won’t respond to speculation a full merger is coming.
Vancouver Coastal and Fraser Health have already merged their supply purchasing divisions to improve efficiency and gain buying clout.
“We’re looking at whole areas where we can work together – environment, pharmacies, those kinds of areas,” he said. “We’re even looking at areas where there may be clinical integration.”
One example, Barefoot said, might be Lower Mainland-wide scheduling of MRIs, so if there’s an MRI scan slot free in Vancouver Coastal, a Fraser Health patient willing to travel could take it.
The drive for efficiency comes amid unrelenting pressure to put a lid on health budgets.
Fraser Health last year got a 9.3 per cent budget increase to $2.2 billion but was told to expect a less than five per cent boost this year and next year.
That’s a challenge for the fastest-growing health region in the province.
Barefoot said the region should end the fiscal year in a small surplus.
The provincial government has directed health regions to find ways to cut administration and support costs – which consume about 10 per cent of Fraser Health’s budget – and transfer the savings to patient care.
Barefoot said Fraser Health is also continuing to see demand for patient care grow rapidly.
And other factors are driving costs up.
The region must pay higher salaries as increases kick in under existing collective agreements.
This will also be the first full year the costs for the new Abbotsford Regional Hospital and Cancer Centre will be on the books.
Barefoot also pointed to the opening of a significant number of residential care beds and facility upgrades, including one at Delta Hospital and a smaller just-unveiled renovation at Langley Memorial – all projects that add operating costs.
“Those things start increasing our financial need way more than the rate of inflation,” Barefoot said. “We’re going to have to really think hard about becoming even more efficient.”
And the need to build or expand more hospitals for the long term continues to be daunting.
Fraser Health’s 2007 bed master plan called for 1,350 new acute care beds to be built by 2020 and 750 of those to be in place by 2010.
So far, fewer than 250 new beds have opened since the plan was adopted and Barefoot admits the region won’t hit its 2010 target.
“We’ll be slightly short of that,” he said, adding more beds are coming, including another 151 planned for a new critical care tower at Surrey Memorial Hospital.
Aging equipment needs to be replaced –the average age of equipment in the region is 12.8 years, well above the provincial average of 9.9 years.
Barefoot is worried the economic downturn may mean fewer donors contributing to local hospital foundations and thereby less money coming in for new equipment.
NDP health critic Adrian Dix believes the situation is more dire than laid out in the new service plan, which he said appears carefully “sanitized” to minimize controversy ahead of the provincial election.
The previous plan warned of near-crisis facing Fraser Health on multiple fronts and Dix argues little has happened to solve those challenges.
Merging Lower Mainland health authorities now would be an admission of failure, he said, but predicts that’s exactly what will happen after the election.
Dix forecasts service cuts to avoid big deficits and a Lower Mainland super-region that will be less responsive to local demands and more aligned with the directives of the premier’s office.
“After the election, the government will be clawing back services,” he said.
Find this article at:
http://www.bclocalnews.com/fraser_valley/abbynews/news/40441408.html
More hospital beds pledged
Fraser Health is adding 50 new hospital beds across the region to battle congestion, but is expected to remain far short of targets already set to keep pace with rapid population growth and aging.
Fraser Health CEO Nigel Murray confirmed the health authority faces a challenge to meet the target set last year to add 750 more beds by 2010, an interim step towards a required 1,350 by 2020.
“We need many more,” Murray said. “We’re working towards that.”
The promised improvements include:
n 19 beds at Port Moody’s Eagle Ridge Hospital, 10 of them medical beds and nine rehabilitation beds;
n 12 beds at Burnaby Hospital;
n Seven more medical beds at Langley Memorial;
n Six acute psychiatric beds at Surrey Memorial Hospital;
n Six new psychiatric beds at Ridge Meadows Hospital in Maple Ridge, a move expected to help ease ER waiting times.
Surrey Memorial will also get six new ER attendants to improve ambulance turnaround times
Fraser Health will also open 10 more residential beds at the Carelife Fleetwood residential care facility in Surrey and nine new residential beds at Langley’s Brookside Lodge for Acquired Brain Injury patients.
The increases come at an estimated cost of $7 million for 2008-09 – a tiny fraction of the health authority’s $2-billion budget –and the bed expansion may not all be in place fast.
“A number of them depend on hiring,” said Murray, adding he could not give an exact date of when they’ll be in place.
Fraser Health also said ambulance paramedics will no longer take patients from hospitals in Burnaby and the Tri-Cities to Royal Columbian Hospital (RCH) –the region’s critical care centre –unless they’re assessed and deemed urgent.
That measure aims to address chronic congestion at Royal Columbian.
“They often do not require the specialized services that RCH delivers and can be cared for at their community hospitals,” said RCH director of acute programs Michelle de Moor.
Fraser Health has also scrapped plans announced this spring to erect portable buildings in the parking lot of Royal Columbian to cope with the high patient load.
Officials are instead planning a conventional expansion of the ER there, after rejecting bids for portable construction.
NDP health critic Adrian Dix said the “parking lot medicine plan” may be abandoned, but the signal being sent is one of confusion despite successive years in which Fraser Health was warned of the urgent need for action.
“They did nothing,” he said. “Now their new solution is rooting people away from the hospital to other hospitals that have problems themselves.”
Fraser Health officials say they continue to see intense growth in the numbers of patients coming to most area hospitals.
The recommendations come from Fraser Health’s Integrated Management Planning and Action Task Force (IMPACT) and are to be implemented over 15 months.
Murray said it was a grassroots initiative to draw ideas from across the region.
The announcement was made in Burnaby by health minister George Abbott.
But the provincial government still hasn’t released Fraser Health’s service plan for this year spelling out budget details.
Murray said the delay was in part due to delayed decision-making after the province provided Fraser Health with an extra $45 million this summer to avert spending cuts.
Dix said it’s unacceptable for the service plan to remain under wraps so late in the year.
“It’s an approach to transparency that’s right out of Dick Cheney’s office.”
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http://www.bclocalnews.com/fraser_valley/abbynews/news/30391829.html
Hospital designated as regional infection control unit
By Trudy Beyak - Abbotsford News
Published: September 06, 2008 12:00 PM Whether SARS, a pandemic flu or TB hits, microbiologists here are on the alert to battle the next outbreak.
If a potentially lethal disease breaks out in the Fraser Health Authority (FHA), sick patients will likely be transferred to a new specialized 10-bed infection control unit in Abbotsford.
The Fraser Health Authority has designated the Abbotsford Regional Hospital and Cancer Centre as the new regional infection control site, because the facility is equipped with the latest high-tech features, said Walter Hiller, chief project officer.
There are more than 40 isolation rooms that are under negative air pressure in the new hospital - including a 10 bed infection control unit that can completely be self-contained and isolated from the rest of the wing, Hiller said.
In fact, there is also a decontamination room in the emergency department, Hiller said, where a new patient may be completely scrubbed down and decontaminated if necessary before admission.
Meanwhile, every doctor’s battle against antibiotic-resistant “super bugs” remains a critical issue for medical staff at the new hospital.
The now-closed MSA General Hospital reported 253 new cases of methicillin-resistant staphyloccus aureus (MRSA) and 35 vancomycin resistant enterococci (VRE) cases during the last fiscal year (2007-08).
The new cases of people testing positive for carrying or being infected with super bugs, are in addition to patients who were already identified by the hospital as testing positive.
Of the 35 new cases of VRE, 32 likely acquired the infection at the old hospital. The MSRA rate doubled from the previous year. Of the 253 cases of MRSA:
n 106 acquired the antibiotic resistant bug at MSA General Hospital. The hospital average was 7.5 cases per 1,000 admissions, almost double the previous year when it was 3.5 cases.
n 142 patients were infected by the bug in the community or 10.1 cases per 1,000 admissions.
n Five sources were not determined.
Dr. Fred Roberts, FHA medical director, noted that people who tested positive for MRSA in the community tend to be IV drug users or related to prison populations.
MSA General Hospital reported a rate of 7.5 MRSA patients per 1,000 who acquired the antibiotic resistant infection the hospital, which is a rate typical of other Fraser Health hospitals, but Roberts would like to the rate drop to one or two per 1,000 admissions.
He also noted that the rate at MSA General had doubled from the year before, but it is not easy to control the spread of MSRA or VRE in an older hospital.
The FHA medical director is enthusiastic about the the new hospital and expects the rate of new patients testing positive for MRSA and VRA to drop, because of all the infectious disease precautions built into the facility.
Roberts said hand-washing in hospitals is still the best defence against spreading infection and using the alcohol based cleanser.
Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are a major national problem in all hospitals, Roberts said.
Hospitals in the Netherlands are among the most progressive in the world where nurses are tested and not allowed to work until they test negative. This is likely not going to happen in Canadian hospitals.
The new 300-bed, $449 million hospital opened on Aug. 24 with an estimated 261 beds. An invitation-only official opening is set for Tuesday afternoon.
Hiller highlighted some of the features in the new hospital that epitomize “a healing environment” and promote a quick discharge for patients.
Patients may enjoy lots of natural light, and views of the courtyard gardens and mountains, Hiller said, noting the importance of nature and light for healing.
Faith also plays a role in healing, therefore, the new facility has a “sacred space” and a spot for private family conferences.
The privacy of patients is an important priority, he said.
There are 154 beautiful private rooms, with the remainder as semi-private rooms – all painted in colors that are soothing, Hiller explained.
Patients may also control the intensity of the lights and the temperature of their own room while they load a DVD on the TV with information on how to care for themselves after surgery.
The intent is to discharge patients as quickly as possible, Hiller said, because it’s well known that people heal more readily when they return to the comfort of their own homes.
The last surgical procedure performed at MSA General Hospital was a caesarean section at 5:30 a.m. on Sunday, heralding the birth of a baby girl named Brianna. The mom and baby were the first patients transferred to the new Abbotsford Regional Hospital and Cancer Centre. Happy parents Tstvan Mikula and Andrea Horvath share their story with reporters.
Going ‘from poverty to riches’
A light-hearted message in graffiti evoked laughter.
“T-T-T-T-That’s all, folks!”
The Porky Pig sendoff with a big, round happy face drawn in black felt pen left a teasing and fitting goodbye in graffiti to the old MSA General Hospital ER entrance, making patients laugh as they left by ambulance on Sunday morning bound for the new $449 million Abbotsford Regional Hospital and Cancer Centre.
A chapter ended, a new chapter began on this historic day.
And, as the famous Looney Tunes cartoon ending exemplified, doctors, nurses and patients were decidedly giddy ramping up to the big move and leaving their signatures on the dreary walls and assorted fun messages in graffiti.
“Oh, for doors big enough to push beds through,” wrote one. Another scribbled “So long, farewell, it’s been a slice!”
Marilyn Goodwin, a long-time hospital auxiliary volunteer, said on the day of the move, “There are no regrets.”
There were emotional moments of nostalgia as people pondered what MSA General has meant to them – from losing their mom or dad to a fatal disease to the many wonderful babies born in their families; moments wrought with pain and tears and moments of miracles and celebration.
If walls could speak, they would say it was fitting that the last surgical procedure performed at the old hospital on Sunday morning was a caesarean section and the birth of a baby girl at about 5:30 a.m.
The mother was also the first patient delivered to the new hospital.
Happy parents Tstvan Mikula and Andrea Horvath named their little girl Brianna. After having two sons, Mikula said he is happy a daughter was born to his family – and even happier that their Brianna was the last baby born at MSA General and yet one of the first patients in the new hospital.
Maternity nurse Fern Fan said she’s thankful to be working in the new hospital with its state-of-the-art conveniences versus working at the old hospital.
“There is no comparison,” she said.
Patients are excited to be in the new hospital.
“It’s like going from poverty to riches,” is how Abbotsford surgical patient Aleida Konyenbelt described moving from the dreariness of room 208 in the old MSA General Hospital to the bright, new facility on Marshall Road.
She could hardly sleep the night before the move.
“I was so excited,” she said, noting that she received breakfast in a bag early Sunday morning, and was watching the Toronto Blue Jays when she was whisked away in a wheelchair and onto the HandyDART bus bound for Marshall Road.
A fleet of 14 ambulances, special transport teams and consultants with Health Care Relocations (a private company) transported 121 patients in a caravan Sunday morning.
The move went quietly and efficiently by all accounts and was complete by 12:30 p.m.
Hospital administrator Vivian Giglio said the move “went very smoothly - it couldn’t have gone better.”
About 100 employees and an additional 100 volunteers worked on lift teams and as porters, helping patients to be transported safely to the new 300-bed hospital.
The new facility is opening with 261 beds initially, and is expected to add beds with future demand.
“Morale is great,” Giglio said.
Dr. Dave Williams, chief of ARH medical staff, said it was like a dream come true as he walked in the hallways of the new hospital.
It was emotional for him to see the first patient arrive through the doors, he said.
“It’s very exciting.”
He is leading a growing team of 254 physicians and surgeons with hospital credentials.
In the past year, more than 25 new specialists have moved to this area to work in the new hospital.
Williams said the new hospital is now the official regional trauma centre for the Fraser Valley, meaning that if there is a major accident from here to Boston Bar, the patients will be transferred to Abbotsford instead of Royal Columbian or Vancouver General Hospital, Williams explained. The only exception will be patients with major head injuries.
There will always be a trauma medical team on call at our hospital, Williams explained.
The new facility is still seeking to fill the vacancies for specialists in infection control, cardiology and ICU.
The old hospital is now surrounded by a fence, and is off-limits to the public.
The facility, built in 1953, is likely to go under the wrecking ball, pending a decision by the Fraser Health Authority on future development of the site.
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http://www.bclocalnews.com/fraser_valley/abbynews/news/27393664.html
Thinking Happy Thoughts
Giant radiation therapy units at cancer centre ready for patients
With a hand-picked international medical team and cutting-edge equipment, an estimated 60,000 cancer patients a year from the Fraser Valley region can expect to receive some of the best possible treatment in the country at the new Abbotsford Cancer Centre, which is alongside the new Abbotsford Regional Hospital.
The B.C. Cancer Agency has completed months of installing and testing its four radiation therapy linear accelerators, costing a total of $14 million, in time for Aug. 25, the first day patients are scheduled for treatment at the Abbotsford Regional Hospital and Cancer Centre complex on Marshall Road.
Yesterday, the BCCA opened its newest facility to the media and introduced some of the cancer centre's 127 team members, which include specialists recruited from around the globe.
These include Dr. Bilal Shahine, a Lebanon-born medical physicist who worked as a student with the BCCA 10 years ago, and who was recently recruited back to B.C. from Saudi Arabia where he has worked for the last five years.
Shahine and other medical physicists will oversee the linear accelerators, swathed in 10-foot thick concrete in the lower level of the cancer centre.
Two of the four medical oncologists are married doctors Robert Winston and Dorothy Uhlman, newly arrived from Minnesota's North Memorial Medical Centre.
Others team members include Dr. Frances Wong, chief physician for BCCA Fraser Valley and Abbotsford Centres, and Tammy Currie, Abbotsford's chief radiation therapist.
Along with cancer therapies, the facility will offers pain, nutrition and rehabilitation support, access to clinical trials and education in cancer prevention.
The fifth cancer centre in B.C. [the others being in Vancouver, Victoria, Surrey and Kelowna], the Abbotsford centre will be open Monday. See www.bccancer.bc.ca for more information.
©Abbotsford Times 2008
Preparing for hospital’s first day
Hospital staff‘extremely busy’ planning for Aug. 24 opening
The final preparations are underway for the opening of the new Abbotsford Regional Hospital and Cancer Centre on Aug. 24.
Tracy Irwin, director of program development for ARH, has been one of the Fraser Health staff overseeing the transition from MSA Hospital to the new hospital.
All the equipment, materials and supplies that needed to be moved from the old facility have been transferred, said Irwin.
However, not much was moved because the vast majority of the equipment at the ARH is new, she said.
From now on, and into next week, the focus will be on completing the finishing touches at the new hospital.
“Final preparations are taking place right now on the building,” Irwin said.
“People are extremely busy unpacking supplies, new cleaning staff are being trained, medical staff are running through emergency practices, and training in the operating rooms.
The major and final step in the transition will be moving patients from MSA to the new facility on opening day.
Irwin figures as many as 150 patients will be transferred to ARH.
The move will start at 8 a.m and likely be finished by 2 p.m. on opening day, Irwin said.
Teams of people will be working at both hospital sites, and 15 ambulances and a number of wheelchair vehicles will be used to transport patients.
On average, Fraser Health hopes to move a patient every two minutes.
“Bed-to-bed, the journey should take about 15 minutes,” said Irwin.
Every patient will be transported with a nurse, she said.
“We are accustomed to transporting patients to higher levels of care at other hospitals,” she said.
“We’ll be doing reviews of patients in MSA hospital every day previous to the move so we can consider their medical needs.”
Several hundred people will be helping with the move, she said.
MSA will be fully staffed on move day, and ARH will have extra staff on hand to receive patients.
When the move is complete, staff from MSA will move over to the new facility at 32900 Marshall.
Even before the patient move gets started, the new emergency room (ER) will be open at 6 a.m.
Previous to that time, any ER patients will be treated at MSA.
Irwin said the most challenging aspect of facilitating such a large-scale move has been ensuring the lines of communication were functioning well.
“It’s the same thing as in any big organization,” she said. “When going into a big job like this we have to do a good job and there are an enormous number of people involved.”
Fraser Health has done a good job of involving people in the move, said Irwin.
“People have risen to the occasion in a phenomenal way and brought vision and enthusiasm to the process.”
However, ensuring the right information made it to the right person in a new hospital that is 60,000 square feet in size and that houses 11,000 new pieces of equipment and more than 1500 employees is no small feat, she said.
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http://www.bclocalnews.com/fraser_valley/abbynews/news/26943924.html
Specialists head to Abby's new hospital
Husband, wife team recruited from U.S.
From the moment husband and wife Drs. Robert Winston and Dorothy Uhlman - medical oncologists from Minnesota - decided to explore new career opportunities, it seems like they were destined to join the new BC Cancer Agency Abbotsford Centre.
While flipping through a program for a major cancer conference, Dr. Winston randomly selected a name from the delegate list to call to inquire about recruitment.
His finger landed on the name of a BC Cancer Agency medical leader - and that was the beginning of a recruitment process that brought two seasoned physicians to B.C.
"It must have been fate," recalled Dr. Uhlman jokingly about how she and her husband first connected with the BCCA when it was actively recruiting medical staff for its new cancer centre in Abbotsford.
Drs. Winston and Uhlman, who are currently settling into their new home in the Fraser Valley, will join the medical team at the BC Cancer Agency's new Abbotsford Centre, which is integrated within the Abbotsford Regional Hospital and Cancer Centre. With more than 15 years of experience each in treating adult cancer patients, they are two of four medical oncologists hired for the new centre.
"It's common knowledge that there's a shortage of medical oncologists in Canada, so we are very fortunate to have recruited such high-calibre oncologists. They'll make a world of difference for our patients," said Dr. Frances Wong, chief physician for the BCCA Abbotsford and Fraser Valley Centres.
"We're familiar with the brain drain to the United States, so it's refreshing to see physicians from south of the border come here."
The doctors' decision to come to Abbotsford underscores the attraction of a new state-of-the-art cancer centre, and speaks to the BCCA's excellent reputation for delivering patient care, added Wong.
Other factors influencing their decision include Canada's health care system and the lifestyle offered in the Fraser Valley, said Drs. Winston and Ulhman.
"We wanted to practice in a setting that provided more equitable access for patients," said Dr. Winston, who completed his fellowship at the University of Minnesota, where he met his future wife, before working at Minnesota's North Memorial Medical Centre as a general oncologist.
"It's beautiful in the Fraser Valley. We love being so close to the water and the mountains," said Dr. Ulhman, who has four daughters with Dr. Winston.
"We've both been impressed by our colleagues. We can't wait to start working at the new Abbotsford Centre."
Dr. Uhlman worked at the University of Minnesota and then the North Memorial Medical Centre after completing her MD at the University of Michigan and fellowship at the University of Minnesota.
The BC Cancer Agency's Abbotsford Centre is the fifth of the regional centers that are at the heart of the Agency's provincial cancer control network. The new centre will provide a full range of cancer control services, including, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, clinical trials, and supportive care, such as patient and family counseling, nutritional assessment, pain and symptom management and palliative care.
©Abbotsford Times 2008
Fraser Health gets cash injection
The Fraser Health Authority is getting an emergency cash infusion of $45 million from the provincial government to dig out of a new financial hole and avert spending cuts.
FHA board chair Gordon Barefoot won’t say what cuts were being contemplated or whether they might have affected patient care at already seriously congested hospitals.
“We were going to have to probably make some service adjustments and overhead adjustments to ensure we balanced,” he said in an interview, adding to go into more detail would “not be a helpful discussion.”
The province had given Fraser Health a 9.3 per cent budget increase to $2.1 billion for this year – the biggest bump of any health region. But by May Barefoot was publicly warning it was “insufficient” to keep pace with the region’s exponential growth and that negotiations were continuing with Victoria to get more.
The money comes just four months into the new budget year.
A total of $120 million was handed out to the health authorities, with Fraser Health getting the largest amount, followed by Vancouver Coastal at $35 million.
The increase is considered a one-time infusion.
“It will help to ensure that we balance our budget,” Barefoot said.
Health service demand continues to climb, he said.
Emergency room visits are up five to seven per cent so far this year.
“The volumes continue to grow,” Barefoot said. “These funds will help us deal with this never ending onslaught of new customers.”
With the extra money, Fraser Health is committing to open the additional beds at the new Abbotsford Regional Hospital and Cancer Centre this year.
Barefoot noted additional beds have also been announced at Delta Hospital and an expansion area has also been opened at Peace Arch Hospital.
But the infusion does not yet put Fraser Health fully on track to meet the early requirements to expand beds under its acute care plan. It calls for 1,350 new beds –a 65 per cent increase –by 2020 with new or expanded hospitals likely in the Tri Cities, Maple Ridge and Surrey. And 750 of the new beds are supposed to be in place by 2010.
“I’d say we’re slightly behind,” Barefoot said of that target.
The physical space for beds is one problem. But the health authority also continues to struggle to fill vacancies among the ranks of its doctors, nurses and other staff, Barefoot said.
The province recently recorded a larger than expected $4-billion surplus.
The extra money for health is attributed to stronger than expected oil and gas revenues.
Barefoot expects “new discussions and new challenges” in the years ahead –Victoria had previously earmarked smaller budget increases than 2008’s in the next two years.
“It’s very important the economy remain robust,” he said.
The population within Fraser Health is slated to grow 28 per cent by 2020 and the proportion of seniors is rising rapidly. Inflation is also driving up the costs of supplies and drugs.
“With a growing and aging population, increased use of new and expensive technology and pharmaceuticals, we are seeing incredible demands placed on our health care system,” health minister George Abbott said.
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http://www.bclocalnews.com/fraser_valley/abbynews/news/26269464.html
Brittany Oleskiw, left, and Sarah Henderson, Grade 11 students at Rick Hansen Secondary School, ponder what they want to buy from the school's vending machine. Starting in September, vending machines in B.C. middle and secondary schools will offer healthy snacks only. Some students think they should have a choice. 'If students want junk food they will still go out for lunch and get it,' said Oleskiw.
Junk food will be banned in all B.C. schools
Bad snacks out come Sept., so is extra revenue
Abbotsford and Mission school districts are facing a reduction in revenue as a result of the provincial policy to ban junk food in all middle and secondary schools.
"At the district level we used to take in around $50,000 from school beverage sales, but that has gone down 100 per cent," said George Murray, secretary treasurer of the Abbotsford School District.
"The amount of commission made, by all secondary and middle schools [in Abbotsford], for food and beverage sales has also dropped 50 per cent."
The schools use to take in around $80,000, but due to the higher costs of healthier foods they are now only bringing in $40,000.
The money made through vending machine and food sales has been the main source of funding for "challenge programs," like sporting and music events, said Murray, who supports the ban.
"We have been phasing out high-fat and high-sugar foods for quite some time now, and schools are already seeking other opportunities to make that money back," said Murray.
He said, considering the district's $150 million operating budget, "This is not a dramatic reduction in revenue."
The junk food ban has already taken place in elementary and middle schools, but high schools are set to follow this September, said Connie Denesiuk, president of the B.C. School Trustees Association.
"Many of the schools already know or are learning about the impact this will have on funding, but they all fully support and have taken early voluntary action on this initiative," said Denesiuk.
"Schools know the overall health of their students is a higher priority."
"We have seen a marginal dropoff in revenue, but over time we will find ways to make up for it," said Mission Secondary School principal Jim Pearce.
He said the school's cafeteria no longer sells foods with trans fats, like fries, and since it has introduced whole-wheat pastas, vegetable sauces and lean meats, sales have increased.
"Most students know they need to eat healthier. It will take time for them to fully adjust to the change," said Pearce.
But, two Grade 11 students from Rick Hansen Secondary School don't believe junk food should be banned in high schools.
"I think it should be our own choice to decide what we eat. We are old enough to choose for ourselves. It's not like we are still in elementary or middle school," said Sarah Henderson.
Her friend agrees. "If students want junk food they will still go out for lunch and get it. They should at least give us a balance of both," said Brittany Oleskiw.
© Abbotsford Times 2008
