Image Credit: ADOBE STOCK

Kamloops residents are perhaps not the only ones concerned about the state of healthcare in the city.

Miriam Stables says she's been contemplating returning to the city she grew up in, but access to health care is making that more and more unlikely.

Stables is in remission from cancer and is experiencing long-term side effects from radiation treatment. She says she'd like to be closer to her sister for support and get out of Toronto but not at the cost of her health.

"I don't feel confident if I went to Kamloops I'd get the support I need," Stables said.

It's not just the constant stream of media coverage about short staffing at Royal Inland Hospital, or the fact that there's no accessible walk-in clinic, Stables has plenty of connections in Kamloops through both family and friends that have filled her in. They've all told her doctors are in short supply.

In the years of battling cancer and even while trying to get diagnosed, Stables has learned how valuable it can be to act as her own advocate. Being assertive with healthcare professionals to convey her needs and symptoms helped her get diagnosed in the first place and choose her own treatment plan.

"I've had many doctors roll their eyes at me," she said. "But I don't care anymore. I survived because I advocated for myself."

But that wisdom and self-advocacy can't go far without the assurance that she'll be able to access healthcare in the first place.

Despite the fact that living in Kamloops would be much more affordable for her than Toronto, it's not enough to convince her right now. And she's not the only person concerned about the availability of healthcare.

READ MORE: IHA blames Kamloops understaffing on COVID, but nurses, MLAs say roots go deeper

"We have definitely been hearing about healthcare challenges for the last couple years, and it's only been exacerbated by the pandemic, wildfires and floods," Accacia Pangilinan of the Kamloops Chamber of Commerce said.

Local business owners have told the chamber that the availability of healthcare in Kamloops has made it difficult to attract new workers to move here since at least 2016.

Pangilinan said the same concerns come from larger firms and employers that are looking for employees. From highly-skilled to entry level positions, employers have told the chamber that some won't move to Kamloops if they can't get a family doctor.

"This conversation is taking place at almost every table I'm at right now," she said. "If you can get better supports in another community, you might move there."

She added, however, that it's just one of the challenges in the local economy. The other, of course, is the cost of housing.

The benchmark price for a home in Kamloops last month was nearly $775,000, while a one-bedroom rental can cost around $1,500 per month.

READ MORE: Kamloops woman among almost a million people in B.C. without a family doctor

While Kamloops, like many other cities in B.C., has seen a steep increase in housing costs over the last two years, it's expected to be less of a concern for people moving from cities like Vancouver or Toronto, Pangilinan acknowledged.

Finding the factors that dissuade a potential homebuyer or investor from coming to Kamloops can be difficult. Realtors might not learn why a buyer backs out, but healthcare is certainly something a developer takes into account.

Jeremy Heighton of the North Shore Business Association said developers from places like Kelowna and the Lower Mainland are increasingly looking to North Kamloops for future builds, but the availability of healthcare is a concern for those looking at pumping money into the area.

"Healthcare is a huge conversation right now," Heighton said of property developers eyeing up Kamloops. He added, however, that it's one of several factors like inflation and taxes could affect a final decision to build up a property.

While attention lingers on Interior Health and the ongoing staffing crisis at Royal Inland Hospital, there is a shortage of family physicians in Kamloops outside the hospital, too.

READ MORE: 'Critically understaffed': Primary care centres not much help to those without family doctors in Okanagan, Kamloops

Dr. Hancke de Kock recently closed his private practice to work in addictions management, but left 1,500 people without a family doctor in the process.

“There are too many patients and too few physicians,”  told iNFOnews.ca earlier this month. “It’s important to have a family physician, I just don’t know where to find them.”

It’s difficult for new doctors to come out of residency and open a business, especially with no business experience, de Kock said.

The doctor shortage has been an ongoing slow burn, with family doctors in 2014 estimating 15,000 people in Kamloops alone who were waiting for a family doctor.

READ MORE: Bennett bridge far ahead of capacity, way behind in planning for second crossing

This year, one in five people across the province don't have a family doctor, while Urgent and Primary Care Centres, Interior Health's replacement for walk-in clinics, are understaffed in much of the province, including Kamloops.

The B.C. Liberal Party is raising pressure on the NDP government to address short staffing across the province, including a recent press conference with Kamloops MLAs Peter Milobar and Todd Stone.

Stone and Milobar called for Health Minister Adrian Dix to "step up" and address the staffing crisis at Royal Inland Hospital.

"The minister needs to step in immediately and take action, or the premier needs to step in and find a minister that will," Milobar said yesterday, May 26.

Dix was unavailable for an interview with iNFOnews.ca this week.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Levi Landry or call 250-819-3723 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.

We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above. 

News from © iNFOnews, 2022