At Monday evening's Council Session, Mayor Lee Brain sought the support from Council to issue an invitation to Northern Health officials to attend a future Committee of the Whole session to hear the concerns of the community on health care in the area, the themes to be relayed through the Council membership.
The Mayor noting that it would serve as a follow up to their plans of last council session to create a Health Committee in the community.
Towards his wish to host a session with the officials, Mr. Brain asked for some suggestions from the council membership as to who should be invited, with Councillor Cunningham noting that the local administrator should be the first, then offering up a number of other health officials in the Northwest region who could be asked to attend.
Councillor Nick Adey spoke of the concern over the potential loss of specialists in the region and if any officials could be invited to discuss that issue of note in the region. Councillor Cunningham provided a thumbnail sketch of how the policies and decisions are made in the Northwest region and what topics they could address at any session.
"I'm simply going to reflect on the theories I hear in the public forum is the potential to lose specialists and specialized services that we do have here. So I'm just wondering whether there is somebody that is particularly well versed and can be able to speak to what that is like" -- Councillor Nick Adey on plans to host officials from Northern Health
Councillor Niesh suggested that those attending be prepared to provide a ten year goal plan for the council to hear and how they plan to move forward on health care in the community as it grows.
"I just want whoever it may be that comes to this meeting, I want them to be prepared to answer the question of what is their ten year goal in to where they see this community going? Because, obviously from the perspective of the city and the Port Authority it's growth, growth, growth and that's going to put obviously more of a strain on our medical system .... What is their ten year plan of moving forward, you know is there a plan of increasing doctors, or replacing the hospital or whatever it is that they see for us ... The problem is that we don't hear what the future is about all we hear about is what they are taking away or what they are moving to Terrace or that and I want to see where they see this town going" -- Councillor Wade Niesh
Councillor Cunningham picked up on that theme, noting how the epicentre of growth in the northwest is going to be Prince Rupert and how it's important that the community have the medical support in place to address that growth.
"I've always said that I believe that the epicentre of growth in the Northwest will be Prince Rupert through our Port Development and everything else ... and it's very important that we have the medical services to support that growth." -- Councillor Barry Cunningham
He also noted how Prince Rupert currently is noted as third on the list for hospital replacement, which he estimates would be at least fifteen years into the future at the earliest.
Councillor Adey also asked when the proposed dialogue would take place, with the Mayor observing that it should in short order with council to reach out with the invitation.
In reply, Mr. Brain made note of a presentation from Health officials at the recent virtual NCLGA session and how many of the issues that were discussed at that gathering would be similar to what Prince Rupert is facing.
Councillor Cunningham also stressed the need to get the proposed Health Committee initiative underway and outlined how it would be of use for the community in speaking to the issues of concern here.
Somewhat surprisingly, none of the Council members offered up the name of MLA Jennifer Rice as a potential guest for their session on Health care in the community, which considering the need for advocacy on health care for the region seems like a curious omission to the potential guest list.
Towards the plans for the Committee of the Whole session, the Mayor observed that they would get busy with the invites this week.
You can review the discussion on Health Care from the City's Video Archive starting at the 13:30 minute mark, however be advised that Monday's session once again suffered from a number of technical issues at times.
For more notes on Monday's Council session see our Council Timeline Feature here.
A wider overview of Council Discussion themes can be reviewed here.
For more background on Northern Health in the Prince Rupert area see our archive page here.
Cross posted from the North Coast Review.
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