Kelowna mayor questions pediatric ward closure at hospital – Okanagan

Concerns over the pediatric ward closure at Kelowna General Hospital (KGH) continue to grow a week and half into the service disruption.

“We’re a huge city. This should not be happening,” said Louise Harris, a Kelowna mother of six. “As a parent this is very concerning.”

The pediatrician ward closed on May 26 for six weeks, possibly longer, as Interior Health (IH) struggles to recruit and retain physicians at the hospital.

The health authority has confirmed that since the ward’s closure, it has transferred six pediatric patients to other hospitals across the health region.

IH previously defended its decision to close the ward, saying it had no choice because it needed to preserve pediatrician coverage for critical services, such as high-risk deliveries.

“Scared but also angry,” is how Leslie Plummer described how she feels about the closure.

The Kelowna woman cares for her four-year old granddaughter four days a week.

“Why would they let this happen, why did they get to this point where this happened?” she told Global News.

They’re questions the city’s mayor is also seeking answers to, despite health care delivery not being in the municipality’s jurisdiction.

“We have great concern with respect to it,” Kelowna Mayor Tom Dyas said. “We feel it is our obligation to question and when we question, we’ll question Interior Health and we’ll also question the ministry to see whether something happened here that potentially snuck up on Interior Health or whether it’s some negotiations that are taking place at this particular point in time.”

Dyas added, “What would be some of the reasoning behind this and is this a situation that may come up in other areas or other specialists within the hospital?”

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In an email to Global News, IH stated, “Interior Health social work teams are available to support families with the logistics of transferring a child, and to help ease the burden, IH offers a Hardship Policy that can assist with related costs, including transportation.”

For some parents, however, the situation goes beyond finances.

“For myself, if it was one kid, I still have three others right, whereas here I could go back and forth,” said Vanessa Disterhoft, a West Kelowna mother of four.

IH has said it hopes to re-open the 10-bed pediatric ward in some time in July but could not guarantee the timeline at this point.

The dire situation has many parents and caregivers pleading for a remedy sooner rather than later.

“Please, please help us find a solution,” Plummer said.

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