More than 50 people attended a rally at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Banff on Thursday (Jan. 24) for an information session and to protest closure of the maternity ward at Mineral Springs Hospital.
Labour and maternity services are set to move to Canmore General Hospital near the end of March.
Organized by a group of volunteers uniting under the banner Hatch, Patch and Dispatch, a reference to what they believe are the types of services community hospitals should offer, the event was also a chance to deliver a clear message to Alberta Health Services (AHS) and Covenant Health.
“Our message is very simple. The core basic services that are already here should remain here,” said Kristen Wiggins, one of the members.
Wiggins pointed out the group is upset over the process and discussions regarding the decision to close obstetrics services at Banff’s Mineral Springs Hospital, as well as the idea health authorities are fixing a problem that doesn’t exist.
Wiggins also said having a hospital that offers maternity services is vital to the community and to the health of both mothers and newborns.
“In emergency situations or in situations where having support close to you is needed, it’s very important,” she said. “There’s enough evidence out there to acknowledge that stress can play an important role in the outcomes any time you have to go to the hospital.
“As much as we can lessen that stress, the outcomes are better for moms and babies,” she added.
As part of the information session, Michael Klein, a semi-retired doctor from Vancouver who has extensive experience delivering babies, offered his thoughts on the negative effects of moving obstetrics to Canmore.
“There’s no evidence that there is a safety problem in Banff or a quality problem,” Klein said. “There is a need to continue to maintain that quality and that requires keeping the skills. In fact, they acknowledge that not only is it safe, it’s especially safe and it’s complication rate is especially low.”
Losing maternity services could lead to the closure of other departments, the doctor noted.
“Maternity supports general surgery because of the Caesarean section,” he explained. “All of these other services are interconnected and if you lose maternity care, you reduce the volume of surgeries. One thing leads to another.”
According to a statement from AHS, the decision to close the ward was a clinical decision based on patient care and patient-care needs.
In a previous article in the Outlook, Cindy Mulherin, executive director of Banff Mineral Springs Hospital said, “the decision is the best thing for patient care and quality and safety.
“We can look at efficiencies and economies of scale and all those things, but the decision is about making sure there’s a safe birthing experience.”
The statement from AHS also noted a Community & Rural Health plan that began in 2011 involved engagement with community members from both Banff and Canmore. However, Dr. Jane Fowke, who delivers babies at the hospital and attended two public meetings, said closing obstetrics was never brought up.
“There was no mention at all of obstetrics moving to Canmore,” Fowke said. “It was a brainstorming meeting about how can we best serve our community. It was talking about what’s working well in Banff and what might work better in the future.
“I think the decision was already made before the working group met,” she added.
Banff-Cochrane MLA Ron Casey also attended the rally to hear the concerns from members within the constituency.
“For any community to lose any level of service, it has an impact,” Casey said. “It’s a service that people become comfortable with and used to.
“From my understanding, it was a matter of shifting services; both hospitals were doing both so it was consolidating services in Banff and Canmore and trying to make the best use of the facilities and personnel available.”
After hearing a comment from one of the protest attendees, Casey indicated it was also worthy to note the number of cities and towns scattered across Alberta that don’t have access to maternity wards at hospitals.
“As the gentleman sitting next to me pointed out, there’s places three times the size of Banff, Cochrane being one, where you have to go somewhere else to have a baby delivered.
“Across Alberta it doesn’t change,” he added. “In the Bow Valley we are so lucky that really it’s 12 miles apart and that in Alberta is absolutely unheard of. Some of this has to be taken in that light as well.
“This is striving to sustain something that’s been a good service. It was the community saying we’ve got a good service, it’s worked well for us and we don’t understand why it’s changed.”
The next step for Hatch, Patch and Dispatch is holding another public meeting at Wild Flour Bakery in Banff next Wednesday (Jan. 30) at 5 p.m. and potentially organizing a bus trip to the legislature in Edmonton to voice its opposition.
