A recent announcement from Prairie Mountain Health Region that hospital and emergency services will be suspended or reduced in several areas due to staffing shortages has communities searching for solutions.
In the town of Melita, which is home to the Melita Health Center, currently closed until the end of August, officials held a public meeting on Tuesday to discuss the impact.
“It’s a big concern,” Melita Mayor Bill Holden told Global News.
“We have a huge catchment area and I don’t think people really notice. Our catchment area goes to the corner of the Manitoba/Saskatchewan border and the Manitoba/North Dakota border, so that’s a huge area…that’s pretty far from different healthcare facilities, so Melita It’s a logical place to go.”
Holden said the meeting, which drew more than 200 area residents in person and many more online, generated a good discussion about the nursing shortage in rural Manitoba.
Councilors from six neighboring towns and municipalities also attended, he said, with both provincial NDP leader Wab Kinew and Liberal leader Dougald Lamont calling.
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Holden said representatives from Prairie Mountain and Manitoba’s Shared Health will work with community leaders in an attempt to “alleviate this for the fall.”
“One of the solutions was to try to get more education here,” he said.
“We have a facility in Melita to run a (licensed practical nursing) course. We ran one four years ago and haven’t had one since.
“Part of the problem with that is that these nurses, I guess with burnout, go to other places. We want more courses and more people in the nursing industry.”
Apart from Melita, hospital and emergency admissions have been temporarily suspended at Treherne. Grandview will see its overnight and weekend emergency services temporarily suspended starting Friday, while Souris has suspended its emergency services on Monday and Wednesday.
in a communicated last weekPrairie Mountain said the shortage is due, in part, to vacancies, staff furloughs and vacations.
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