Death by a thousand cuts - the Doer government plan for health care in Wawanesa

In Wawanesa, Manitoba the sign post which used to have an H on it to indicate hospital is still standing, but the H has been removed. Indeed it was removed several months ago. It is one of the cuts that step by step are reducing the health services provided in Wawanesa.

Approximately two years ago, there was a large rally at the Manitoba Legislature. Many people from Wawanesa and area travelled to Winnipeg to raise concerns about what was happening in their community.

Well things are still going down hill in Wawanesa. And the Assiniboine Regional Health Authority (ARHA) still has not made clear what its plans are for Wawanesa, let alone for other parts of the ARHA. A check on the ARHA web site (www.assininboine-rha.ca) confirms they have no strategic plan for the RHA. In contrast, a check on the web site of the North Eastman Regional Health Authority (www.neha.mb.ca) shows that they at least have a strategic plan with some goals and some outcomes listed.

One of the stories I heard about the current situation in Wawanesa is this. If you need emergency care, you may be directed to travel (or taken by ambulance) 24 kilometers east to Glenboro and then about 28 kilometers south to Baldur. If you are too sick for the facilities in Baldur, or need care only available in Brandon, you then must travel 28 kilometers back to Glenboro, then 24 kilometers back to Wawanesa, and then 56 kilometers north-east to Brandon. Surely there should be some way to make an assessment (even if it is over the phone) to decide that care is needed in Brandon, and go straight to Brandon instead of travelling 52 kilometers in the other direction first.

It is hard to know exactly why the ARHA has been so derelict in failing to produce a plan for the future of health care in Wawanesa and in the rest of the ARHA. Local Conservative MLA Leanne Rowat was a former Board Member of the South West Regional Health Authority (the precursor to the ARHA). It would appear that not only is the NDP government letting the people of Wawanesa down, but Leanne Rowat is not doing a good enough job as an opposition MLA to get after the government and the ARHA sufficiently so that they get their act together. With neither the NDP nor the Tories doing their jobs, it is time to get a Liberal government in Manitoba.