Tuesday October 23, 2012 (Vol. 37 No. 85)
V O I C E
O F
W H I T E
R O C K
A N D
S O U T H
Staying positive: Even a tough loss to the Timberline Wolves didn’t douse the enthusiasm Earl Marriott Secondary football coach Michael MacKay-Dunn has for his current crop of “hard-working” seniors. › see page A27
S U R R E Y
w w w. p e a c e a r c h n e w s . c o m
Anesthetist shortage results in repeated 12½-hour windows with no emergency surgeries
PAH forced to divert expectant mothers Tracy Holmes Staff Reporter
For the second week in a row, an unexpected shortage of anesthetists has Fraser Health officials advising pregnant women who find themselves going into labour Friday night that they will not be able to deliver at Peace Arch Hospital, Peace Arch News has learned. Those in need of emergency surgery will also be diverted. David Portesi – Fraser Health’s interim
executive director of clinical programs, maternal, infant, child and youth – confirmed Thursday that an unexpected lack of anesthetists overnight means the hospital will divert these patients who arrive between 6 p.m. Oct. 26 and 6:30 a.m. Oct. 27 to Surrey Memorial Hospital. The situation is a replay of what happened during the same time period last week. The necessity to divert patients was communicated to the hospital’s ER department and other health officials Oct. 16, in an
internal memo from the regional anesthesia and surgery department heads and the surgical program’s interim executive director. A copy of the memo was dropped off anonymously at PAN’s office Wednesday afternoon. “There is an unanticipated gap in the call schedule coverage for the period of Friday, Oct. 19, 2012 at 1800 hours to 0630 hours, Saturday, Oct. 20, 2012 for on-call anesthesia at PAH,” the memo states. “As a result, Peace Arch Hospital will be on surgical diversion
for this 12-hour period.” Portesi told PAN he is aware of only one similar diversion at PAH “within the last month.” It was handled through “physician triage,” he said. Fraser Health spokesman Roy ThorpeDorward said Monday that last week’s diversion resulted in just one maternity patient being turned away from PAH. She chose to drive herself to SMH, Thorpe-Dorward said. › see page A2
Filmmaker returns
A different Afghanistan Alison MacLean
H
Special to Peace Arch News
ow many coalition soldiers does it take to keep one Canadian filmmaker alive in Afghanistan? By the time I returned from Kabul and Kandahar last month, I had my answer. Far too many. Three weeks earlier, I left my home and family in Crescent Beach. This was my fourth trip to Afghanistan and my second documentary shoot in two years. Times have certainly changed. Fewer journalists. Less access. Limited financial support. The embed program that attempted to inform the world in 2010 – to limited effect – no longer exists. All embedded journalists must provide their own protective gear when working in a war zone. Unfortunately, after a long journey with a number of flight transfers, my tripod and body armour were held back by airport security for some unexplained reason. I was booked the next day to start shooting my independent documentary, Burkas to Bullets, so it was an immediate issue. Afghanistan is a cash economy, preferably American, and it took two days and a lot of cash, as well as numerous trips to the airport, to eventually reach an
Contributed photo
Security was on South Surrey independent documentarian Alison MacLean’s mind during her three-week tour of Afghanistan last month. “understanding” with airport took me to a different location security to retrieve my armour. and demanded more money. I On each visit, I was physically paid and got out. I was able to searched by a flag down a Ca-BED-Za ❝It is hard for Western society British Embassy female. Suicide Convertible Cabinet Bed to understand the level of bombers are a vehicle, and they with Memory Foam Mattress rage that can erupt so quickly provided me problem at the airport perimeter, with the armed in the Middle East.❞ and unsecured security required taxis are also a concern. I would to arrive at my destination. book a taxi from a secured list. This was the beginning of three Ca-BED-Za Roomy the driver One time, however, weeks of living dangerously. Storage
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A woman abroad My documentary focuses on Afghan security, with profiles of police and military women. Women make up 50 per cent of Afghan society, and a growing number of women are training to become frontline workers. NATO and the International Security Assembled Forces (ISAF) have spent years mentoring
and training Afghan security personnel. Canada, the U.S., Britain and other coalition countries have done an excellent job in developing security programs in anticipation of the respective countries leaving Afghanistan, with the knowledge that the Afghan National Security Forces would develop their own training and security. › see page A11
Vote Bill Lawrence
[
for White Rock Council “I’ll get it done.”
VoteBillLawrence.com
]