The Western Manitoba Health Authority expects to have 20 short doctors by the end of this summer, as it is having difficulty finding staff at two personal care homes and preventing emergencies from closing temporarily.
Sue Stirling, who is part of a group of citizens struggling to keep health services alive in Grandview, learned of Prairie Mountain Health’s challenges at a meeting she and others in the community attended early this month.
The situation across the region is bleak, he said.
“It simply came to our notice then [when we were] going through the pandemic, “said Stirling, a member of the Grandview Health Care Solutions group.
“I guess the way to describe it would be the perfect storm,” he said. “We just left COVID. We have a shortage of nurses. We have a shortage of doctors.”
Grandview, a town of about 1,400 people located 290 miles northwest of Winnipeg, is suffering.
One week ago, her hospital went from supporting 14 beds to eight, due to a shortage of staff that is expected to be temporary.
Empty residential beds due to lack of staff
Stirling said she learned during the meeting with Prairie Mountain Health CEO Brian Schoonbaert that by the end of the summer there will be 20 doctor positions in the region.
In addition, 22 beds in personal care homes in Dauphin and nine beds in Gilbert Plains are empty because there are not enough nurses to care for these residents.
In addition, Prairie Mountain anticipates that it will have to temporarily close emergency departments at various locations during the summer and temporarily relocate some emergency departments to emergency care centers due to staff and service limitations.
This has been happening in several Prairie Mountain communities over the years.
Although staffing challenges did not develop overnight, Stirling said the outlook for the coming months is daunting, especially when staff are taking vacations.
From his perspective at the meeting, Stirling said the health authority’s message was clear: “It will get worse over the summer because we are in such a bad position to deal with it right now.”
He recently wrote a synopsis of the meeting, which was published in the community newspaper and circulated on Facebook.
Stirling said transparency was part of the reason he wrote the letter, “but the most important thing is for the community to know that there are things in the background that are out of anyone’s control right now.”
The number of staffed beds at Grandview Hospital, Man., Dropped earlier this month due to employee vacancies. (Sent)
The Grandview Health Care Solutions community group is doing what it can to support existing staff and assist with recruitment efforts. She is working with Prairie Mountain on ways to find volunteers for basic tasks, such as answering the phone, in the hospital, and in the personal care home.
On its own, the municipality is offering signature bonuses for new nurses who are committed to staying for two years – up to $ 20,000 – and in a few days will take possession of a home that the new nurses will be able to share.
Grandview also provides financial support to help physicians run clinics.
Mayor Dwayne Bomak, who attended the meeting with Prairie Mountain, said “hanging this carrot” has brought health workers to the community.
“The government should be picking up the tab on these things, I guess, but that won’t go beyond what we’ve seen,” he said.
“Basically, if we want health care in the community, that’s something we have to do.”
Home care solutions
At the recent meeting, Stirling said she was told the government was exploring various options to improve the health care situation.
The province is looking to keep some people who require lower levels of care at home, rather than moving them to a personal care home, providing money to pay for home support. The government may look to companies to establish such support, Stirling said.
In addition, Stirling wrote in her letter, the province is looking to develop a provincial nursing agency.
When asked to respond to Stirling’s letter and these proposed ideas, a government spokesman addressed CBC News in a statement from Prairie Mountain Health.
In it, Schoonbaert did not talk about possible solutions, but said that staffing challenges worsen in the summer while people are on vacation.
“There is also an ongoing challenge associated with finding agency staff available to pick up vacant shifts during the summer months,” he said in an email.
“The hardworking and dedicated staff … has been picking up additional shifts whenever possible,” he said.
“We wholeheartedly appreciate this level of commitment.”
Schoonbaert said the affected communities will be informed of any temporary closure of facilities.
EMS stations saved
Stirling said he is grateful that Prairie Mountain recently met with the group of citizens, and while some of what they heard was discouraging, there was some “good news.”
Provincial plans to close more than a dozen EMS stations, announced in 2017, are on hold, at least until other health care issues are resolved, he was told.
He tells Grandview that fighting for health care has to do with the vitality of his community and worries that losing his hospital and personal care home could be his death.
“The passion … to keep people in this community and provide better care closer to home is across all age groups,” he said.
“It’s every profession. It’s every area of life. It’s every age group. Everyone believes in the same thing.”
Terrible situation for health workers arriving in western Manitoba
The Western Manitoba Health Authority expects to have 20 short doctors by the end of this summer, as it is having difficulty finding staff at two personal care homes and preventing emergencies from closing temporarily.