The MLA for the riding that includes Salt Spring once again toured the island with a provincial minister in tow — this time visiting different healthcare settings with Mid Island-Pacific Rim MLA and Minister of Health Josie Osborne.
Arriving on an early ferry Saturday, Nov. 1, Osborne is the second B.C. cabinet member to visit Salt Spring in the last three weeks. Saanich North and the Islands MLA Rob Botterell had previously arranged a similar visit from Housing and Municipal Affairs Minister Christine Boyle on Oct. 16.
Botterell and Osborne spent the day learning more about the healthcare challenges facing Salt Spring, shepherded by Lady Minto Hospital Foundation (LMHF) executive director Eric Jacobsen and a host of other frontline providers and community members.
Osborne said it was rare for her to be able to spend nearly a full day in a single community, and felt as a result she left with a much stronger understanding of Salt Spring’s challenges than she arrived with.
“I also have to say I am so inspired by how deeply committed and caring people are on this island,” said Osborne. “It is so obvious that people are looking out for each other.”
After the minister and MLA were collected from a rainy landing at Fulford, their first stop was the Heartwood House healthcare staff housing project on Bittancourt Road. Jacobsen said the foundation would be welcoming its first healthcare workers transitioning into the community there in the new year.
The next stop was Lady Minto Hospital and a tour of both the new emergency department and the aging Extended Care Unit there. As a prior mayor of Tofino, Jacobsen joked, Osborne “knew a little about 1950s-era hospitals.”
“But importantly, she also really understands the constraints and operational challenges in rural and remote communities,” said Jacobsen, adding that they also visited Greenwoods to present the broader scope of long-term care on Salt Spring — and where it could be improved.
“I think we recognize a desire for modernization, renewal and co-location — evolving into a ‘campus of care’ surrounding the hospital,” said Jacobsen. “That’s the vision.”
After that the group visited the Salt Spring Island Health Centre. Just last month, the Island Community Clinic Society (ICCS) and LMHF announced joint plans to attract — and retain — family doctors and primary care health workers by transforming the existing centre into a non-profit team-based model.
Jacobsen said one of the complexities for proponents was that it isn’t quite envisioned as a typical community health centre model, so the project wasn’t a “perfect fit” for existing programs at the ministry level. He said Osborne committed to helping LMHF and ICCS convene with her staff to sort out where the project could “plug in” to provincial resources.
“We talked a lot today about the need to expand the clinic,” said Osborne. “About what a community-led clinic looks like, where you obviously have the support of the ministry and Island Health but it’s run by a community-based nonprofit that understands the unique needs of the island.”
Botterell said that despite challenges, the island’s “healthcare ecosystem” was being developed in a grassroots, innovative and integrated way. He called the visit “energizing,” and said he ended the day hopeful for the new model being planned.
“And the other good thing is, we’ve got a site,” chuckled Botterell. “And there’s good progress being made in terms of working to get the approvals needed to get to work on that site.”
The clinic expansion is part of a broader project planned by the Gulf Islands Seniors Residence Association (GISRA), which is undertaking a rezoning process through the Islands Trust that could deliver space for additional healthcare practitioners alongside 50 new units of affordable housing. Osborne said that sort of integrated approach was in step with the province’s direction to work toward solving complex issues from several directions at once.
“It’s more than just delivering health care,” said Osborne.
“It’s about housing, it’s about child care; it’s about recruiting and hosting entire families [of those medical professionals] who choose to move to Salt Spring.”
Osborne said the next step would involve going back to the ministry and developing those “points of connection” to support Salt Spring’s healthcare needs — and ensure they were aligned with provincial planning.
“I feel encouraged by everything I saw today, and people that I met, and how hard people are working on community-based solutions for healthcare,” said Osborne. “It takes everybody at the table together, so it’s going to be Island Health and the Ministry of Health and the [South Island] Division of Family Practice, the doctors and the foundation and the community groups.”
“There’s a lot of work to do, but after today and through our discussions, I think we can really see the path forward,” said Botterell, “and I’ll continue to work with Josie to do our part provincially to make that happen.”