New Health Minister Visits Terrace, Talks Healthcare Challenges

BC's new Health Minister was in town today for the naming ceremony of the new hospital. But first, she stopped by CFTK-TV to chat about healthcare in the North.

Jaylene: So thank you so much for joining me, Minister Osborne. I know this is a relatively new appointment. How was your first couple months as Health Minister?

MLA Josie Osborne: Well, it's been about three and a half weeks, in fact. And, it's, it's incredible. I am so honored to receive this appointment. And there are a lot of challenges that we're facing. And British Columbians made it really clear to us throughout the election that they expect us to do everything we can to strengthen our public health care, and mental health care system.

And I'm really looking forward to digging in. And this is my first trip as Health Minister. So I'm really proud that I've come North and here in some of the more remote parts of British Columbia.

Jaylene: And it’s a fun thing, you get to open the new hospital.

MLA Josie Osborne: It's, it is, I mean, it's a real honor. I'm obviously building on the incredible work of Minister Adrian Dix before me and everything that people here have done. I know people have been waiting a long time for a new hospital here, and to see that it's doubled in size, that it's going to be able to serve the entire region.

It's, I've been hearing stories already from people up north about how much this hospital means.

Jaylene: Absolutely. And I know one of the biggest issues that has been plaguing our region is ER closures and staffing shortages. How is that being addressed?

MLA Josie Osborne: Well, it is tough and it's hard on families and people, and we need to have confidence in the health care system, in the hospital and knowing that the emergency room is open. I come from a small town myself, and just imagining, having our E.R. closed is a really difficult thing to do. So it's, it's tough because we are experiencing a global shortage of health care workers.

But the good news is that we are doing a lot to bring in new doctors, new nurses, health care workers into all parts of British Columbia. I'm very determined to tackle this issue around emergency room closures, particularly in rural British Columbia. Coming from rural B.C. myself, I think that I'll be able to bring a really valuable lens there.

But just continuing to do that work, we are, we are really excelling there. But we've got more to do because we want to make sure that health care is there for people when they need it and when they need it.

Jaylene: For sure. And I know one of the big barriers is often nurses and doctors face. Is it costs a lot to go to medical school. Is that one of the things that are being addressed?

Well, you're right, there are costs to that and there are costs to moving into rural areas. And so providing incentives. So we have incentives for locums to visit rural areas and work there for nurses and other health care workers to do that. That's a really important part of it. Opening British Columbia's first new medical school in 50 years, specifically around, family practitioners and building the cadre of family practitioners that we have here in British Columbia, that's all part of it, expanding the medical school at UBC.

It's an exciting and really fulfilling career for people I know, and we're going to continue to do everything that we can to support people who choose that career path.

Jaylene: And what about the rural incentives?

MLA Josie Osborne: You know, rural incentives can be a real difference. So a bonus essentially, or an incentive to help people come and move to rural communities. But, you know, even in my first three and a half weeks talking with local leaders and the health authorities and understanding what communities are doing to attract new people to their communities to live there, and all the amenities that you have.

And there's something different about living in a smaller community than living in, say, the Lower Mainland or the southern Vancouver Island. And I think that rural communities have a really special thing to offer for people. So it's, it's good to see people who choose that that is their path and to make their homes here in rural British Columbia.

Jaylene: And I know, another issue is ambulance wait times. Is anything being done for paramedics or to retain paramedics or to deal with the wait times?

MLA Josie Osborne: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And paramedics too, they're an essential part of the health care system. And so when you call 911 you are not having not a good day. When you have to call nine one, you want to know that the ambulance can be there. So we have invested in ambulance stations, opening new stations. But really looking at the staffing model and working with the paramedics at BC to ensure that wages are competitive, that the shift, the shift certainty is there, the predictability is there for people.

And, and investing in new ambulances as well, new equipment for paramedics to be able to respond.

Jaylene: And so are they.. I know the wages are, I think the starting wage for a paramedic is $25. Is that like, can we expect that to go up?

MLA Josie Osborne: Well, we're going to continue to work with paramedics of BC. There's, these are governed through collective agreements, of course, and that work that we do with them is really important in determining and setting wages, continuing to provide good jobs. And these, again, are jobs that are incredibly rewarding for the people who choose to do that. And we want to make sure that we're supporting them with the best possible working conditions, with the equipment that's needed to do that and with, you know, the, the colleagues that they need to be able to work with so that they can deliver the health care that we all want and expect to have for sure.

Jaylene: And what about, addressing like, doctor and nurse burnout?

MLA Josie Osborne: Yes, that's a serious issue. And workplace conditions are a big part of that. Our health care workers go above and beyond each and every day, and certainly during the pandemic, we saw that we really celebrated the work that was, was done by health care workers. But we have to continue that too. And so addressing those issues around stress, anxiety, fatigue, you know, with bolstering the number of people and again, we're, we're in a global health care worker shortage.

So we have to continue to attract, incentivize, bring in new health care workers, physicians, nurses, create safe working places, make sure that there are enough people that roster or complement of people, particularly, you know, in a small community where you need the right number of people so that somebody is sick or somebody goes on vacation, that it doesn't increase the burden on everybody else who is there.

So we are using travel nurses as well, who will come in and help to alleviate some of that. But we really want to build the local complement because I know rural communities especially want people to live in their community and be part of it. And the kids go to school and they shop locally and they really become part of the community.

Jaylene: Yeah, they do. And so do family doctors. I know that's another struggle. In Terrace, is having a family doctor. Is anything being done to address that?

MLA Josie Osborne: Yeah, absolutely. And so again, the work to create more doctors through, the new medical school and expanded seats at UBC, for example, working with locums to attract them into rural areas, in particular to help cover off some of those shifts as we build the complement of doctors, we've attached, 900 new family doctors, and we've got about 680,000 people in BC since 2018 that have been attached to a family physician.

So there's momentum where we're going in the right direction. But at the end of the day, each and every person who wants that family care or, or primary care provider, whether it's a doctor or a nurse practitioner, that's their doorway into the medical system. And having that is a is a really important thing. So that's why we're going to stay very, very focused on that.

That's one of my top priorities, certainly as the new Health Minister, to do everything we can to have those primary care providers in communities across B.C..

Jaylene: Interesting. Yeah. And I know, one thing our local MLA Claire Ratté mentioned is that the health care system, in her words, struggles with a lot of paperwork that needs to be reduced.

MLA Josie Osborne: Yes, absolutely. Administrative burden is something doctors certainly have made very clear to us is something that they want to reduce. And we're working with them to do that. So we've made a commitment, for example, to reduce or eliminate unnecessary sick notes. So that's something we'll be working on in 2025. And looking at options and working with the doctors to make sure that we do it right, because of course we want to we want to make sure that we are doing it right.

But even things like getting rid of fax machines, it's kind of hard to believe in 2024 that we're still using fax machines. But again, working with, with the doctors, with nurses, with clinics, with the health authorities to reduce that administrative burden as a top priority as well.

Jaylene: That's actually something that happened to me. As I was at the dentist and they faxed a prescription to my clinic, and they never got it. Oh, yeah. And they said it was a common issue for them. So I'm glad you're saying, or addressing it, but would that be, would that fall into it as well? Like prescriptions being faxed?

MLA Josie Osborne: Well, yeah. Eliminating that need to use the fax machine for prescriptions. That's exactly what we're looking at using.

Jaylene: And did you want to add anything about the Terrace Hospital?

MLA Josie Osborne: Oh I'm just I'm so thrilled to be here and be part of the opening. I'm really, honored to be invited to the gifting of the name and understanding. Better too just what this means in terms of reconciliation and creating healing spaces that are that are done in culturally appropriate ways. I think that the way people hear the communities, the health authority, the First Nations have really worked together to build, to design and build a hospital that serves this region's needs.

I think Terrace has so much to be proud of, to be home to this new hospital, and that it's going to make a real difference in the entire region.

Jaylene: Absolutely. Thank you.

MLA Josie Osborne: And you're so welcome.