So it seems it’s full steam ahead for our Health Centre here in Oceanside (‘More doctors, nurses for health centre’, The News July 22).
Well, judging by the article, it seems that we are not getting much more, if any, than we already have!
Tom Davies (FORA) states that “It’s not a hospital. It won’t have emergency services here.”
Howard Waldner (VIHA) says it will be services built around people — no beds or hospitalization and that it includes outpatient services like labs, pharmacy, clinics and before and after surgery consultations.
Just what are we getting here? NO beds, NO hospitalization, NO emergency.
We already have labs, pharmacies and clinics.
Last year, our illustrious Parksville mayor at the time stated that we shouldn’t ask for too much in the way of services for the new health centre, as we probably wouldn’t get it. He should have asked for much more and got less.
As it stands now, he asked for less and got practically nothing!
Seems to me, this new health centre will just be an expensive building to hold all the services in one place that we already have!
We have waited many years for some measurable improvement in service for Oceanside.
I fear it will be many more years before we get what we need and deserve — a fully functional health centre.
Richard Munson, Parksville