Enderby mayor Howie Cyr is well past mincing words about the doctor shortage in the town.
“I’m incredibly concerned,” he said. “It’s ridiculous. It’s wintertime. The roads can be bad. We have a lot of elderly people here.”
The shortage has forced many residents to commute to bigger hubs for treatment. And it’s a situation that is about to get more bleak.
In just over a month, there will only be one full-time doctor left to treat the 7,000 residents living in Enderby and the surrounding area.
The problems in town could not have come at a worse time. Medical resources in the North Okanagan are also currently stretched thin.
Nancy Serwo, hospital administrator for Vernon Jubilee Hospital, says the hospital sees spikes during the holiday season.
“Seasonal illness, injuries, the ski season has started. Slips and falls with icy walkways and that kind of thing,” Serwo said.
With many private medical clinics closed for the holidays, walk-in clinics were also jammed.
Three Vernon medical walk-in clinics were completely packed Friday. Staff at each clinic tells CHBC News that the wait times were about three hours whereas normally patients would spend about 30 minutes waiting.
However, once the holidays are over, things should get back to normal in Vernon and some measure of relief will be on the way for Enderby: one doctor has been promised to arrive in August.
Comments