‘Cusp of collapse’: Oliver mayor calls for changes to B.C. health care initiative

The mayor of Oliver, B.C., is calling on the provincial government to make changes to B.C.,’s loan forgiveness program.

Mayor Martin Johansen says he was recently made aware that the town was not included in the program from a front-line health-care worker.

“I had a front-line health-care worker reach out to me … expressing some concern that we were not on the loan forgiveness program anymore,” said Johansen.

“I’m not sure 100 per cent … when we were taken off the program, we were for sure on the program in 2015.”

The town currently has a lengthy unattached patient list, and the South Okanagan General Hospital regularly sees temporary hour cuts and closures due to staffing issues.

But despite the troubling health care situation, Oliver isn’t on the list of acknowledged underserved communities.

“It’s on the cusp of collapse but what I mean by that is that it’s critical in terms of one person can make a difference whether you’re ER is open or not. So, it’s hanging by a thread,” he said.

“It’s dependent on somebody being able to make a shift, that they’re not sick, they’re able to come in and do their shift. We’re on the cusp of collapse because it comes down to one person being able to keep that hospital open, which is pretty scary.”

The issue isn’t unique to the town of Oliver, as the South Similkameen Health Centre in Keremeos has also seen numerous temporary closures and hours cut due to staffing challenges.

The community is also not included in the program.

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“Keremeos now has lab services for one day a week and it’s for really critical bloodwork. Well, lab technicians are part of the loan forgiveness program and Keremeos also does not qualify for the loan forgiveness program,” said Johansen.

“The whole system is kind of broken and it needs to have a relook and figure out a way to kind of apply loan forgiveness across the province, because there’s a good example of where something is falling apart and there’s no incentive for anybody to come and work there.”

Meanwhile, Johansen has spent several months looking into the loan forgiveness process and says the criteria for eligibility needs to change.

“The problem is they; they’ve made it so that you’re either eligible for the loan forgiveness program, or you’re not eligible — it’s all or nothing to take them.

“Whereas when you talk about physicians, there’s a sliding scale on compensation.”

The ministry of post-secondary education and future skills is in charge of the program. Johansen says he hopes to connect with Minister Selina Robinson in the near future to discuss how communities, like Oliver, can be included in the program.

“I want to talk to her specifically about some kind of a sliding scale for loan forgiveness — so that when you’re working in a real remote underserved community, maybe you get a little more loan forgiveness and when you’re working in a community that is not so remote, not so underserved, that you get a little less,” added Johansen.

“But you still get loan forgiveness because our health care system is really struggling right now and one or two people can put us into crisis.”