by Arthur Milnes
Northern News Services

FORT SIMPSON (Aug 29/97) - The buck stop here. Period.

That was the message delivered by Deh Cho Health and Social Services public administrator Nick Sibbeston and a variety of health officials Thursday night.

They were speaking at a well-attended public meeting called so that changes to the Fort Simpson Hospital -- changes that take effect Monday -- could be discussed.

"We're responsible," Sibbeston told the crowd. "The buck stops with us. If our plan doesn't work as well as possible, we will react and respond. You won't have to go to Yellowknife any more."

Unlike the tense atmosphere present at a similar meeting held in July, both officials and local residents came to share information and concerns, not anger.

Highlights of the changes include: the hospital's transformation to a community health centre with an end to 24-hour hospital care as of Sept. 1; the eventual closure of the Stanley Isiah seniors home and the temporary move of long-term care patients, now in the hospital, to the senior's home, until construction of the new health centre is completed.

Various residents had said they were worried that the hospital will no longer be staffed overnight.

But Enid O'Hara, director of community health services, briefed residents on the plan that has been put in place to deal with this concern.

"You'll pick up the phone, dial 3330 and you'll be speaking directly to the RN," she said. "We feel that is something of solution ... The first RN will receive the call and she can talk to the second RN if she wants."

She also assured the crowd that the nurse on call will have access to a vehicle.

Local ambulance operator Peter Shaw said he was concerned about the costs associated with medevacing patients and wondered whether health officials had taken the full figures into account during their planning.

He pointed out that it could cost close to $600,000 per year if just two people were flown out each week in order to access treatment.

Catherine Praamsma, assistant deputy minister for the GNWT Department of Health and Social Services, said her department had recently examined such costs.

According to these figures, an average of $1.1 million has been spent across the Deh Cho on charters and scheduled medical flights over the past four years.

Shaw's answer to this is quick.

"What you're doing is wrong," he said. "The reason you have overlooked (the real) costs is because this hospital does not report overnight stays of less than 12 hours."

He said that people who would have normally stayed in Fort Simpson will now have to be sent out -- again increasing costs.

"We don't care if this $500,000 comes from the Yellowknife budget," he said. "Surely the bottom line is that we will be paying more money than it would cost to keep the hospital open 24 hours."

Residents were also given a document (see box) outlining some of the changes and providing scheduling information for the new health centre.