Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - October 14, 1995, Winnipeg, Manitoba Saturday free october a3 they wont Swallow this pid nurses Battle or cuts by Alice Krueger and Gordon Sinclair staff emergency nurses across the City have mobilized with petitions and ral lies even knocking Doort door to let residents know exactly Why they should be worried about emergency the nurses say theres no Way to sugarcoat the bitter Pill health minister Jim Mccrae has delivered with the overnight Clos ing of Winnipeg five Community Hospital emergency peo ple will they unless the minister reverses his despite soothing words from the minister that All is nurses Are Adamant that lives Are at risk with Only two City Emer gency departments open at not May said Kim Swan a nurse at Grace general Hospital and president of the local Manitoba nurses they Are in jeopardy theres no question about and As they Point to the fact Community emergency wards Are still treating patients at night and saving their they wont permit them to do within Days of the decision to close the wards at nurses from seven Miseri Concordia and Victoria hospitals hit the streets with Peti calling on Mccrae to recon Sider what they see As a dangerous policy Misericordia nurses have planned a meetings have been constant this week As nurses talk to Hospi Tal each other and govern ment officials to clarify As of nurses at Grace Hospital who met with Mccrae earlier this week had collected nearly signatures from residents of West Winnipeg and outlying communities like Eustache and fran Cois Xavier that Are normally served by the at nurses have documented cases to illustrate their Point including the tale of a Man who severed his Achilles Tendon Dur ing a hockey game last week and had to be turned away at the concerned nurses were forced to draw him a map to Boniface but the minister accuses the nurses of saying there just worried about their in Mccrae is asking Community hospitals to simply find ways to Deal with life threat ening cases that show up on their doorsteps at night when their emergency wards Are if they require immediate they should be Given immediate he i undertook to ensure some appropriate Way of dealing with life threatening situations would be in he suggested the hospitals might designate someone to assess the people who arrive on their and that the intensive care unit might be used to care for critical each of the hospitals is being asked to address the Issue and either designate or make whatever decision is Neces it is our Hope those situations will be extremely but the nurses say the minister is missing the were going at this because we Are nurses and we know what can said Brenda an emergency nurse at Grace but we also All live in the Community these Are our neigh our our Wales said the Public needs to be aware of just How critical a Factor time can be in getting to particularly with a heart she said drugs to break up a blood clot work Best when administered within an hour of the Onset of Chest and those drugs can Only be administered in an emergency paramedics in an ambulance cannot give those she so any delay in treatment is going to affect the the longer you the More dam age to your Wales Arlene who works in the emergency department at Victo Ria said a patient came to the Hospital in the Middle of the night last week suffering from a heart he was at though Mccrae takes lesson from says closures dont Hurt care continued from a1 Jeff free press Bob Sweetland treats patient at health sciences Centre emergency what was How they responded what the Lerner report on Emer gency services recommended and what health minister Jim Mccrae said about the Issue the report stressed that any curtail ment of or services in Community hospitals could Only be done in a care fully planned and monitored learners report also said there Are if in closing the problem is merely creating a need for even More expensive facilities of its or from to 8 Grace due to the relatively Low night night closing should be seriously but because of graces distance to Hsc and Boni face it May be prudent to delay this measure until the Impact of the initial Reform measures Are Concordia report does not advocate an alteration to Concordia Valu Able emergency service seven Oaks before any decision is made about a night closing of the Fate of Concordia or must be taken into if one or curtails night i Victoria recommends a bed won system be formally Boniface recommends the reduction of one one aide and one orderly for evening Hsc Manitoba largest Hospital should become the provincial trauma when the Lerner report was released july Mccrae said the government would not close or reduce the hours of any emergency department in Winnipeg until these strategies Are implemented and the resulting activities and performance of Winnipeg emergency departments Are monitored and it also warned emergency Ward closings May add to healthcare costs if problems Are merely shifted to other we recommended a very methodical said Moe who chaired the task Lerner dismissed fears that nighttime closures Are jeopardizing lives As but admitted the province Hast followed the advice from his we were thrust into a situation where we had to do what we could with what we health minis Ter Jim Mccrae said referring to the recent emergency doctors whether we liked it or we demonstrated we can do and the minister is relying on the lessons of the strike to justify overnight closures of five Emer gency wards that contradict a provincial task Force report and his own Promise to since the decision was made a week ago to shut Down emergency wards at seven Concordia and Misericordia hospitals Between 10 and 8 fears continue to be raised about the Lack of assessment and risk posed to Peoples Mccrae has no special report or analysis to support the current pol icy but he is Quick to Trot out statistics showing that 48 per cent of the annual Emer gency cases in Winnipeg go to either health sciences Centre or Boniface general and when asked if Winni Eggers Are still getting the same level of Emer gency care with the reduced Mccrae answered i would have to say but this fundamental shift in health services dubbed an Evo Lution by the health department is occurring without any additional resources for Hsc and those hospitals Are expected to see As much As a 30 per cent increase in while Mccrae has promised to provide additional both hospitals Are still at the same minimum staffing Levels one Emer gency doctor and a nursing we Are in the process of nailing Down what we need in the Way of Hsc spokesman Jim Rodger the ability of the Winnipeg ambulance department to Cope with the overnight closures has been boosted somewhat since the strike it must now have at least 10 units on the up from the response time in the City is Good and Hast said Jake director of the ambulance its the length of time that it takes to get to hos Pital that has Enns said 85 per cent of All emergencies Are responded to in less than six but he said its difficult to say if the increase in transport time As ambulances Are forced to bypass closed Emer gency departments to take their patients to Hsc or Boniface is posing a health nip health critic Dave Chomiak is demanding an Independent review of the Impact of overnight Chomiak Kildonan said the tories have put Peoples health and lives on the line with this Experiment in emergency if you put Only one life at risk and you will it is the wrong met Ginni Iii heres a Loof Callie and what is available now before Hospital emergency services Concordia at least one doctor seve Flaks Grace Victoria Misericordia health sciences Centre Boniface now total 7 or doctors ambulance services number of units paramedic units response time transport time minimum of nine one usually less than 6 no data available none none none none none at least one doctor at least one doctor 2 or doctors minimum of 10 one usually less than 6 no data available but closure of Community ers has added time to some facial tattoos there Are exciting new laser treatments dermatology laser Centre for treatment of facial veins spider leg veins facial wrinkles acne scars tattoos liver spots freckles lip lines Portwine birthmarks Earl Minuk my of Rcpt 918233 Kennedy Winnipeg dermatology laser surgery 204 9577242 for information and appointment win the War against hair loss the Sheps hair transplant clinic the Only real solution 95677o9 1418233 Kennedy Winnipeg my r3c 3j5 Mccrae extremely rare the emergency department was supposed to be the Guy was very unstable and probably have made it on to another Abrey certainly if he had made it to another hed probably have More permanent damage than he does because there is something called the Golden he is recuperating nicely in she said a second incident this week involving a child with seizures was equally had the patient tried to get to either of the downtown hospitals she might have wound up with brain damage or so could this Man with the heart he could have easily Abrey a third also during the night this involved a child with asthma who was in the Mother called Victoria hos Pital from outside the City before bringing the child in for Quick Abrey said would have been at serious risk if shed had to be transported to health sciences or Abrey said no one is arguing against the need for Reform in the healthcare were just saying this int the Way to do Lilli a nurse at con echoed her col leagues saying people in outlying areas like Birds Oak Bank and Libau Are at particular risk now if they have a heart attack at night and have to travel to health sciences Centre or they dont realize the jeopardy there in if they do have an incident especially in the Middle of the night now that were she Schneider noted that while paramedics now Are being sent to the United states for special training in advanced cardiac life Many nurses at Concor Dia emergency already have those when they Start completely ignoring this lifesaving service on this Side of the i think the minister of health is really Shaft ing the people of the Northeast Winnipeg she the Grace nurses have also collected letters addressed to Mccrae from about 30 people who believe having an Emer gency Ward close by their Homes has saved their Lloyd who lives in Lions court on Grant Avenue in was one of i had occasion to need Emer gency help at the Grace Hospi wrote and thanks to it being there in still and there Are More in our seniors building that have had the same we need that facility 24 hours a a James James of Wallasey also expressed on our in the past year there have been approximately five emergencies requiring immediate attention where time was of the As you May be Well the first few minutes Are the most critical in a life threatening Benedictson also questioned the logic of spending million just two years ago on a new Emer gency facility at Grace Hospital and then closing it for nearly half sunday at j tickets 780seat ;