The efforts of Oliver and Osoyoos Mayors, Area Directors for rural ‘C’ & ‘A’ and two of our doctors has paid off.

Our visit to Vancouver to meet with Minister de Jong and plead the case for adequate compensation for our doctors in the ER was worth the time, money and effort.

I was delighted to be called this morning by our Liberal MLA John Slater who informed me that the provincial government has provided funding to ensure Oliver’s emergency room remains fully staffed and that rural doctors receive adequate compensation for the extra work they perform when on-call in our emergency room. What follows is a short quote from the official press release.

“Funding of up to $200,000 per year will be provided to groups of rural, fee-for-service physicians who commit to work as a team to ensure reliable public access to emergency services at their rural community hospital. Physicians will work with the regional health authority to develop a community-specific plan for how funding might best be applied.” – Quoted from Press Release – Ministry of Health.

 

On behalf of my colleagues,

Pat Hampson,

Mayor, Town of Oliver