Skip to content

SPCS continues working for seniors

Thanks are offered to Val Rossi for her article regarding SPCS and Telehealth.

In 2013 I was invited to become a director for SPCS - which as of the 2014 AGM is now the acronym for the Society for the Protection and Care of Seniors.  It is an honour to be on the board - there are many people with long-standing experience and immense knowledge participating.  I have already learned a great deal from them all.  The group works to represent not just seniors, but all ages, in various areas of medical services.

So, I was excited to be invited to review and gather information and concerns around medical services in the Interior Health Authority (IHA) area in preparation for a meeting.

Through the course of the discussions, I learned about both positive and negative actions that are underway.

Many items have been identified and presented to IHA from the early days of SPCS to the current time.  Some of these are still concerns -  the loss of the Cardiac Rehab Program, cuts to Community Care, reduction of acute care and long-term care beds, and downloading costs onto patients.

There are more details in the Lost Services Report on the SPCS website (http://spcstrail.weebly.com/) as well as new  items arising constantly. Telehealth is a positive action.  Personally, I found Telehealth quite fascinating.  I did not realize that something like online chatting had been expanded to become such a useful tool for doctors and patients.

Recently, we met with Val Rossi, a Trail Times reporter, to talk about medical services - both positive and negative aspects. Much of the information provided was about past practices, ongoing issues and concerns, and the failure to address them.  Many issues identified in the BC Ombudsmen report have  also been left untouched.

Val also found the information and usefulness of Telehealth to be interesting and informative, and wrote an article on it, by adding to the information provided by SPCS members.

Her interview with someone who had actually benefited by the use of the service was very enlightening.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank her for the detailed and complete review of an interesting and useful new method of doctor/patient consultation.  I am looking forward to seeing more articles addressed to this type of information.

Theresa BuchnerFruitvale