Health Care Assembly at Westisle organized by committee, Monday June 6th

After losing her own family physician due to a resignation, Ms Keefe began having her own concerns and questions about the current state of PEI’s health care system.

“Like why are doctors resigning, why is there no staff, all these questions that everybody else has too,” she said.

Feeling there has been a lack of transparency from both Health PEI and the provincial government when it comes to the Island’s health care, and with no clear answers being provided, Ms Keefe, a recently retired nurse of 40 years, began talking with other concerned West Prince citizens like herself. This led them to form their committee and begin researching the issues themselves.

“Our main focus is patient care and safety and staff care and safety and number two is to hold people accountable for decisions in our health care,” said Ms Keefe. “Those were our two goals but also to help find solutions.”

One of the biggest concerns for the committee, and many residents in West Prince, is the uncertain future of Western Hospital in Alberton. The Collaborative Emergency Centre has been closed since August 2022 and the hospital’s emergency department continues to experience intermittent closures, often lack of staff cited as the reason for the shut down.

Feeling like they are not being heard, Ms Keefe said numerous health care workers have reached out to the committee to express their frustration about the health care situation in the province, particularly when it comes to West Prince’s only medical facility with an emergency department.

From staff who’ve spoken to the committee, Ms Keefe said the situation at Western is critical, with staff stretched to the breaking point.

“We are working with them to do whatever we can to help,” she said.

With the summer on the horizon, bringing tourists and vacation time, Ms Keefe said solutions need to be found to bring stability to Western, like possibly using travel nurses.

Ms Keefe said the committee disrupts the idea the intermittent closures of the emergency department at Western doesn’t have any impact on the emergency department at Prince County Hospital. The recent letter issued by PCH emergency department staff to visitors warning of long wait times and capacity issues at the Summerside hospital seem to contradict that narrative.

Ms Keefe said the committee isn’t resistant to change, even liking the concept of medical homes, but as the new clinic in Alberton isn’t yet finished, on top of the lack of family physicians in the region, there remains little options for people in West Prince when it comes to seeking medical attention.

“We have no medical home yet, it’s down the road, and we’ve been promised walk-in clinics with locums and with EMS the way they are, God love them, they do the best they can, but it’s just sporadic, hit and miss in West Prince, so we feel the only lifeline in West Prince right now is Western Hospital’s ER,” she said.

With the premier, the leader of the opposition, local MLAs all being invited, the committee, along with the town councils of Alberton, O’Leary and Tignish, are organizing the assembly to give residents the chance to express how unhappy they are with the current the state of health care in West Prince. Also, to send a strong message about how valued the emergency department services at Western Hospital are to the area, said Ms Keefe.

The committee also wants to use the assembly as an opportunity to educate the public about the health care situation, again feeling this is something government and Health PEI should be doing themselves.

“We are beyond a crisis point and there’s no solutions that we are hearing,” said Ms Keefe. “There doesn’t seem to be a plan for health care.”

Ms Keefe said as a committee they have tried to meet with government, Health PEI and the health minister with no response.

“You feel like your hitting a brick wall and why, because this is our health care,” said Ms Keefe. “It’s very concerning.”

The assembly at Westisle on June 5 starts at 6:30 pm.