Health minister gets an earful in Hamiota
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HAMIOTA — Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara visited Hamiota on Friday to answer complaints from the rural community about the shortcomings of its 24-7 emergency care centre and other health-related issues.
The minister, appearing before a crowd of roughly 75 people in the Hamiota Community Centre, spent an hour responding to questions and concerns.
Robin Johnston, a Hamiota resident in his 80s, complained that his wife Bette waited two and a half hours for an ambulance response, and said that it led to her death.
Manitoba Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara addresses a crowd of Hamiota residents at a town hall meeting in the community on Friday. (Connor McDowell/The Brandon Sun)
“Everybody here should be cheering that we should have an ambulance,” he said. “It would have saved my wife’s life.”
Asagwara acknowledged the problem.
“We know there is a shortage,” Asagwara said. “We agree — we think you should have an ambulance in your community. Absolutely.”
The comments were not all negative. One woman praised the health-care system for recently saving her father.
Asagwara said there are things to be optimistic about: that there is a full class of paramedics at Red River College Polytechnic, and that many of those students plan to work in rural Manitoba when they graduate.
“The work is happening, literally, right now as we speak,” Asagwara said. “There is a path forward here, in terms of us all rowing in the same direction towards a 24-7 ER.”
In 2019, full-time emergency services were suspended at the Hamiota Health Centre. For the week of Nov. 3-9, the schedule had three days without the emergency department services.
Speaking to the Sun following the meeting, Asagwara said the team came to Hamiota to add context to their understanding.
“We felt it was very important to come out to Hamiota and hear directly from the community,” Asagwara said, adding it was “the right thing to do.”
Hamiota Mayor Randy Lints told the Sun he was pleased with how the town hall went. He said Asagwara and the team, while touring the local health centre, seemed committed to solving some issues.
“I like what I heard at the facility,” Lints said. “I thought it went real well.”
The main concern in the community is the lack of lab staff and equipment, he said, adding that these two factors lead to interruptions for the emergency department.
Jason Little, CEO of emergency response services for Shared Health, reiterated the minister’s point that there are healthy numbers of students training today to work in emergency response services.
“This year we will have anywhere between 60 and 80 graduates, as long as everybody gets through,” Little said. “And next year, between 80 and 100.”
Asagwara said that during their tour they were shown a piece of equipment that was tucked into a closet. The minister said that the team would work to address these issues, and work to accredit equipment like this to clear up resources.
» cmcdowell@brandonsun.com