Less talk, more action.
Vernon-Lumby鈥檚 BC United candidate for the 2024 provincial election says the NDP government has been failing riding residents with inaction over health care.
Kevin Acton, current Mayor of Lumby, took to social media to express his disappointment in the government鈥檚 handling of local health concerns.
鈥淚n years past, area residents were able to have their medical needs attended to at several medical clinics that operated in Vernon, however over the years, the clinics closed until finally just one remained,鈥� wrote Acton.
鈥淚n 2023 that closed too, leaving the area with no walk-in clinics for residents to seek medical treatment. During this time the NDP did nothing to reverse the obvious decline, then made a feeble, last-minute attempt to retain the final one, however they failed in their attempt.鈥�
Sitting riding MLA Harwinder Sandhu said she had been in contact with local doctors about the clinic. The doctors said there was no communication with her or Victoria.
Not only has the NDP government failed residents on the subject of medical walk-in clinics, said Acton, but they have also failed residents in terms of mental health crisis care.
Acton said the psychiatric unit at Vernon Jubilee Hospital is running over-capacity and the facility is antiquated, inadequate and puts staff and patients at significant risk. He also quoted a 2016 Morning Star article that said the unit is inadequate and that there were concerns eight years ago for staff and patient safety.
鈥淚nterior Health has indicated this to be a priority, so why hasn鈥檛 the NDP enabled projects to happen to fix this?鈥� Acton questioned. 鈥淥ne might think a project so obviously and desperately needed would be fast-tracked. The NDP assumed government in 2017鈥� and here we sit. Waiting. Residents need this care and they should not be punished because the NDP government cannot get it done.鈥�
Action said construction inflation has soared so improvements to the psych unit would 鈥渓ikely be millions of taxpayer dollars more than if the NDP government had done its job years ago, as it should have.鈥�
鈥溾�hink of all the people who have slipped through the cracks, or not received the critical mental health treatment they needed,鈥� said Acton. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not hard to accept that these delays could have cost lives. The question is, how many lives have the NDP鈥檚 inaction taken?
Acton calls for the NDP to stop procrastinating and do what must be done to upgrade the acute psychiatric facility at VJH.
鈥淚t must be completed before one more doctor is injured, or one more desperate patient is left unaided in the failing 1950s condition basement-style of an otherwise beautiful hospital,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he residents of Vernon-Lumby need this care. They deserve it. We demand it. No more announcements, no more hints of announcements, but action.鈥�
The 2024 provincial vote is slated for Oct. 19.
