Health services have grown so much in Kelowna that fewer and fewer patients from the Interior have to travel to the coast for treatment.
“By and large, people have to travel very little anymore for services,” said Doug Ranmore, executive director of the Kelowna General Hospital Foundation. “Most things are available Kelowna General. This is a teaching tertiary hospital serving over 1 million people throughout the province.”
The Cameron family from Revelstoke is a good example of how enhanced services at Kelowna General Hospital (KGH) are allowing patients to stay closer to home while their loved ones offer support from just a few steps away from the hospital.
Robert Cameron, 72, was watching television with his wife Carol and daughter Roberta on Nov. 1 when he went into cardiac arrest.
Roberta called 9-1-1 immediately.
“The guy on the phone said ‘do your compressions four times really fast,’ so I kept doing it and then all a sudden my dad would take a big breath then… so I was like ‘he still here!'” an emotional Roberta recalled.
Paramedics arrived moments later and as her dad was being loaded into the ambulance, the unthinkable happened–her mom had a stroke.
“All of a sudden I see my mom… and I say ‘mom what’s wrong’ and she’s like ‘my hand feels weird,'” Roberta said. “So I look at her face and the left side of her face is drooping.”
Roberta called her brother Cory shortly after to deliver the shocking news.
“I think the statistics of that are ridiculous,” Cory said. ‘I’m sure in the same house with the husband and wife within minutes of each other is pretty crazy I think.”
Robert Cameron was brought to KGH for treatment, where new advanced heart rhythm services have prevented him from being flown to Vancouver or Victoria.
His wife Carol Cameron, 68, was initially taken to hospital in Kamloops but she too was eventually transported to Kelowna so the two could be in the same hospital, something their children believe is making a huge difference in their recovery.
“We can see that their improvement is happening,” Cory said. “That’s a big part of them improving as quickly as they are and doing as well as they are.”
KGH continues to be developed as a regional hub hospital to better serve B.C. interior patients closer to home because distance is not only a burden on family members, it’s stressful on the patients too.
“It would’ve been difficult,” Cory said when asked what it would have been like if one of his parents had to be flown to the coast for treatment. “It’s taxing on everybody because it’s not only me worrying about them, they’re them worrying about us here. It’s the communication factor of constantly keeping them updated and again the factor of both of them having their spouse in a different community.”
What’s also making a big difference for the whole family is the newly built facility called JoeAnna’s house, near the hospital, where out-of-town families can stay while their loved ones are being treated in hospital.
“We’re not living in a hotel and you know if I have to leave and my sister is here by herself and she doesn’t have a vehicle … you can walk,” Cory said. “I can’t really explain how impactful it’s been on us to have a place like this.”
JoeAnna’s house was opened in December and provides 20 rooms for families of patients receiving treatment at KGH.