Clinic closures angers Range Lake MLA
Dolynny calls lack of communication from territorial health department a recurring issue
Candace Thomson
Northern News Services
Published Friday, April 25 2014
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Lack of information from the health department is a recurring issue according to one Yellowknife MLA, who said the problem resurfaced last week.
Yellowknife's two health care clinics - the Yellowknife Primary Care Center and Frame Lake Community Health Clinic - were closed without public notice by the Department of Health and Social Services last Thursday, Saturday and over the Easter holidays, leaving the emergency room at Stanton Territorial Hospital to take the brunt of the patient load for five days.
This irritated Range Lake MLA Daryl Dolynny, who said the department left a "tall task for such a little room."
What aggravated Dolynny the most, he said, was that there was no notice given to the public via broadcast or print advertisements.
"This has been the Achilles heel of the department for many years. They run things on a clandestine approach where they don't communicate with the public," Dolynny said. "They should just let people know what they're doing. Not saying anything is not the way to do business."
Leanne Towgood, acting CEO of the Yellowknife Health and Social Services Authority (YHSSA), said the department had the upgrades planned for some time and therefore planned around them, not needing to cancel any appointments. She also said the clinics had advertisements posted for their clients.
"We had signage in our clinics and TV loops (in clinic waiting rooms) with information ... and we certainly had information on our phone messages," Towgood said.
She also said the YHSSA worked closely with the hospital, providing Stanton with an extra physician for Thursday afternoon after the clinics closed.
"We also had offered an extra physician for the Saturday but it was not needed because there wasn't increased volume," Towgood said.
Dolynny said none of the other MLAs were notified of the closures either, and expressed his annoyance with not having the information to give to his constituents.
"Where's the communication?" he asked.
"I asked (Health Minister Glen Abernethy) if we were beefing up the emergency room for the next five days to handle it ... but the worst part is the fact they're not communicating."
Abernethy was unavailable for comment, according to Brenda Norris, press secretary for the premier and cabinet.
The clinics were closed to upgrade their electronic medical record systems, according to Towgood.
The clinics were open for business again Tuesday morning.
