While there once were 40 beds at the hospital in Oliver, there are now only 18. Over time, the hospital has shed beds in favour of office space, upsetting many residents.
“Down to 18 beds is dangerously low. If there’s an accident, if there’s a disaster, they are going to need those beds,” said Buryl Slack, a former hospital board member.
Slack says that means some patients are living in cramped quarters. Visitors and even health professionals have to bring their own chairs into rooms while visiting patients, creating what she believes are less than ideal conditions for those in recovery.
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Interior Health says the beds were removed to make space for a health centre in 2005. It was deemed cost efficient to centralize various health services from around town.
Officials also say many of the beds were rarely used.
“It was decided that our appropriate capacity was 18,” said Sherry Eribe, Health Administrator at South Okanagan Hospital. “Those were our statistics for many years. We never exceeded that 18 so we didn’t have a need. Otherwise the unit had been empty and not used for three years.”
Eribe says patient quarters can get crowded as new technology now occupies much of the space. But she adds that patients are never forced into rooms beyond capacity.
“We never put two patients in a private room. We never put three in a semi-private room. We put them in what the space is designed for,” said Eribe.
Interior Health says no additional beds will be added since the demand is not there.
However Slack says a time will soon come when more beds are needed and she won’t stop until the community is better served.
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