BOYLE – Between June 7 at 8 a.m. and June 15 at 9 a.m., the emergency department at the Boyle Healthcare Centre was closed for 85 of the 193 hours that passed, including two full days and five full nights, due to a lack of on-site physician coverage.
With the departure of Dr. Marthinus Doman from the community after 17 years, and his South African replacement yet to start his three-month Canadian medical preceptorship, the closures put an exclamation point on the village’s precarious healthcare situation, said Village of Boyle mayor Colin Derko.
Just days after Derko met with Athabasca-Barrhead-Westlock MLA Glenn van Dijken June 4 to discuss the concerns with staffing at the healthcare centre, Alberta Health Services sent out the first of three public notices June 6, announcing the emergency department would be temporarily closed for 24 hours starting the next morning. Another notice June 8, announced a closure of the ER for the following three nights; then one more on June 13 notified residents of another 24-hour closure starting June 14 at 8 a.m.
Nursing staff were on site during these times to provide triage and assessments, and referrals to the Athabasca Healthcare Centre, 45 km away, or the William J. Cadzow - Lac La Biche Healthcare Centre, 66 km away. Ambulances were also redirected to those nearby communities.
In a June 10 interview, Derko said the meeting with van Dijken went well, and he expects another regular doctor to return to the village soon to join Dr. Jan Fourie, who also took part in the meeting. Locum coverage will also resume as normal. In the meantime, Derko said, the village and van Dijken will be trying to work with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta, to help Doman’s replacement start his Canadian training as soon as possible.
“He’s here, and he’s a Canadian citizen, and he’s willing to go to work, it’s just a matter of the process,” said Derko, who also noted the doctor in training cannot be placed in the same community where he is planning to practice. “So, what we're hoping is that he doesn't need to wait three or four months to get placed, and then do his three months. We're hoping that we can get him in place as soon as possible, so that he can work his three months, and then come to the community.”
van Dijken said in a June 13 interview he is working to get the new doctor into his preceptorship as soon as possible, to get the village back up to two full-time doctors, and make sure the emergency room can remain open 24 hours a day.
“We are short half our doctors in Boyle right now. It sounds really bad … it’s a big deal, and it makes a big difference,” said van Dijken.
The additional issue in Boyle at the moment is that it is now summer, and some of the locums who often work in the community just to make sure there is a doctor on-site, are taking their vacation time. Then there is the COVID-19 pandemic, which is leading to not only isolation time for some doctors, but has become a serious hindrance to travelling internationally. It delayed Dr. Doman from leaving, and his replacement from arriving.
It’s not all that unusual to be short-staffed in the summer, and many facilities have that experience, but Boyle hasn’t had to deal with that in recent years, said van Dijken, adding in places like St. Paul, they’ve actually had to close down beds.
“Our best hope right now is to get (the new doctor’s) preceptorship started as soon as possible so that he gets placed into a hospital, does his three-month preceptorship and can get on with regular practice in Boyle,” he said.
“AHS doesn't take it lightly that they've had to redirect, but if they don't have the people available at the time, they make plans accordingly. We're trying to move in a direction that we get a doctor, a second doctor in place there as soon as possible because Dr. Fourie, he readily admits he can’t run his tail off for six months waiting for the next doc.”
“We’ve got to try and get the province to understand the roadblocks that we face as a rural community,” said Derko. “We definitely need to have our community looked after and I'm confident that we will. It's just a matter of getting through this process and getting through the rough water and the bumps along the way.”
