A REGION
UNITED
Part 4 of our series: Amalgamation is not without its challenges, as we find in Page A3
NEWS: Region looks to curb curbside dumping /A10 ARTS: Shoe program brings dancing to masses /A12 SPORTS: International rugby returns to Victoria /A16
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Upheaval at clinic worrying seniors Clinic doctors quitting in contract dispute with health authority Daniel Palmer News staff
Sharon Tiffin/News staff
Margaret Bohlken and husband, Cas, outside the Health Point Care Centre on Hillside Avenue, are working to save the clinic with the imminent departure of its four doctors.
When Margaret Bohlken moved to Victoria eight years ago, one of her first concerns was finding a family doctor. She had been going to the same North Vancouver clinic for 38 years for her increasingly complex health problems before moving to the Island, but had no idea her search for a willing physician would span three-and-a-half years. “I was turned down 13 times,” said Bohlken, now 75. “Finally, someone told me about Health Point clinic.” Vancouver Island Health Authority established Health Point Care Centre in 2004 for senior patients with complicated medical conditions who did not have a family doctor. The clinic’s client list now boasts more than 1,800 patients and has a wait list, a marker of its need and success. But many patients worry their level of care could decline after the four parttime doctors who run the clinic told
VIHA they were quitting over a contract dispute with the health authority. Patient Stephen Gracey, 74, worries Health Point will soon turn into another walk-in clinic. “It may be (better than) other clinics, but I don’t know what doctors are going to want to work there if the current doctors are leaving for very good reasons,” he said. The physicians disagree with VIHA on the amount they should pay to operate the clinic and the number of patients they see. “Our departure is due to an inability to reach an agreement with VIHA regarding our provision of services at the clinic,” reads a Feb. 27 letter from the doctors to their patients. The clinic also employs three medical office administrators, two registered nurses and a nurse practitioner who are subsidized by VIHA, said health authority spokeswoman Sarah Plank. “When Health Point was founded … the physicians were paid on a contract, rather than fee-for-service, and significant resources were put in place to support them,” Plank said.
PLEASE SEE:
Patient rally, Page A6
Victoria’s homeless in spotlight just in time for B.C. election Survey shows majority believe government should do more to provide access to affordable housing Daniel Palmer News staff
Greater Victoria residents want action on homelessness and the government needs to deliver. That’s the message the Greater Victoria Coalition to End Home-
lessness wants provincial politicians to hear as they move into campaign mode. “The community awareness is there,” said Andrew Wynn-Williams, coalition executive director. On Wednesday, Wynn-Williams released survey results showing
84 per cent of Capital Region residents believe affordable housing is the responsibility of government. More promisingly, nearly 60 per cent of people believe homelessness can be ended. The survey, completed by R.A. Malatest and Associates, was con-
ducted before the coalition rolled out its “Unacceptable” homelessness campaign in February. “We need to take the results back to whoever gets elected and say you have both the mandate and responsibility to act,” WynnWilliams said.
More than 1,600 people used a Greater Victoria shelter in 2011, according to the coalition’s most recent numbers.
PLEASE SEE:
City loses out, Page A6 Our View, Page A8