Councillor Cunningham looks to keep North Coast issues on health high on the agenda for Northern Health and the Minister

Heading into a new term of office, Councillor Barry Cunningham who is now the longest serving member on City Council, appears to have taken up the past work of advocacy on health that the late Nelson Kinney championed through his many years of elected office.

Mr. Cunningham who through his time on council has been one of the strongest and most consistent of defenders for health care on the North Coast, outlined some of his concerns through a Facebook post on Monday afternoon.

His observations of the day, making note of a community meeting held at the offices of MLA Jennifer Rice last week, a session which put the focus on health care issues in the region, in this case the need for better ophthalmologist care for Prince Rupert.

I’ve said this before, but it’s time for Northern Health to start paying more attention to Prince Rupert. Prince Rupert is the North Coast Regional District's focal point for health care for a large geographic area. Whatever the problem is, find the money or fix the politics that are standing in our way.

In his Facebook notes on themes of health care he observed how there is a growing trend of medical services drifting to the Terrace region, calling for Northern Health to have specialists make time for Prince Rupert visits, particularly as we head into another winter driving season.

You can review the full scope of his concerns and the call for more attention from Northern health here.

Health Minister Adrian Dix in 
Terrace earlier this year announcing
the plans for a new hospital

As we've noted a number of times on the blog in the past, the prospect of that drift of medical services shifting to Terrace could morph into a stream, once the new Terrace medical facility is built and any status as a Trauma centre put in place by the Provincial government.

Mr. Cunningham followed up on that theme in February of 2017, raising a number of concerns over the potential loss of services in Prince Rupert as the Terrace plans continued to move forward.

The final go ahead for the new Mills Memorial hospital came earlier this year, with the planning phase for the new facility now underway,  that while Mr. Cunningham keeps his watch on the potential impact on the North Coast.

As more residents review the commentary from his Facebook post from yesterday, some are starting to deliver their own list of services that need to be added to the items of concern.

Observations from constituents that offer up some guidance for the North Coast MLA and for City Council members to bring to the attention of both Northern Health and the provincial Health Minister.

For more items of note related to Health Care on the North Coast see our archive pages.

Cross posted from the North Coast Review.