Disappointment: Despite announcement, patients will see another winter of travel

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Jim Dumville
the victoria star

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For Woodstock's Kelly Atherton, last Thursday's phone call from N.B. Health Minister Mary Schryer seemed like an early Christmas present.

The minister personally called Atherton to tell her the province will provide the funds to double the dialysis service at the Upper River Valley Hospital (URVH) in Waterville. That would end the need for Atherton's mother, Marie Bragdon, and more than a half dozen other Upper River Valley kidney patients to make the long trip to Saint John or Fredericton three times a week for treatment.

Unfortunately, Christmas won't come early after all for Atherton, Bragdon or the other dialysis patients. In fact, the families can only hope the expanded service arrives in time for Valentine's Day.

Although the funds are immediately available, URVH will not have the staffing in place to deliver the expanded service until February, possibly March.

Dean Cummings, the executive director of the Upper River Valley for the Horizon Health Network, confirmed the best-case scenario will see trained staff in place to take on the extra shifts by early February.

He said the job openings will be posted immediately, but the logistics of hiring staff, arranging transfers and delivering the training means opening the dialysis unit three extra days each week is several weeks away.

On the heels of the excitement following her conversation with Minister Schryer, the news of the delays in getting the service implemented proved disappointing for Atherton.

"My four-year-old grandson says 'we don't like that' and I have to agree with him," Atherton told the Bugle-Observer after being advised of the time line at URVH.

Atherton said she and her mother expected the announcement would mean they would avoid the treacherous winter driving to Saint John.

"There are going to be a lot of stormy days with terrible road conditions between now and then," she said.

Noting how relieved her mother was following Minister Schryer's phone call, Atherton said she was not looking forward to telling her about the delays.

"I don't have the heart to tell my mother that we have to stay on the highway all winter and that we have to make the drive to Saint John on Christmas Day," said Atherton.

Atherton still holds out hope that some arrangements can be made to provide temporary coverage until full-time staff can be hired at the dialysis unit.

"Surely, now that funding has been put into place so quickly, there must be some other solution to get temporary staff in place before then," she said.

Cummings said everything is being done to get the expanded service up as quickly as possible. Currently the dialysis unit operates 12-hour shifts for three days each week. The Horizon Health Network, he explained, must now find staff to fill three additional 12-hour shifts each week.

"We're looking at doubling capacity," he said.

Finding staff already trained in dialysis delivery will speed up the process, Cummings said, but that may not be possible.

In making her announcement last week, Minister Schryer finally provided government funding for the expanded dialysis service proposed by the health authority several months ago.

"We're quite excited about the announcement," said Cummings. "It's wonderful news for the Upper Valley. We realize it's been a hardship for several people in the region."

He said a positive aspect of Schryer's announcement is that the funds will be available immediately.

"They're not waiting for the new fiscal year," he said, noting the province's fiscal year doesn't begin until April 1.

With the expansion from three to six days of operation each week, the number of patients which can be treated at the URVH dialysis unit will jump from 10 to 20.

Cummings said that means the eight area patients currently travelling to Saint John or Fredericton for dialysis will find a seat at the URVH unit.

"Our goal is to try to have patients treated as close to home as possible," Cummings said.

Currently there are 10 dialysis units in the province - Saint John, Fredericton, Moncton, Miramichi, Bathurst, Edmundston, Sussex, Tracadie, Dalhousie and Waterville.

As Atherton and her mother prepared to leave on the long drive to Saint John Monday morning, she expressed hope she can find more information from dialysis staff there. While the long trips each Monday, Wednesday and Friday have been tough on her mother and her family, Atherton said, the staff in Saint John understands the stress the patients are under and does everything possible to make them comfortable.

"I'm hoping to get some answers today while in Saint John," Atherton said in an email Monday morning. "I just can't believe they can't do better than that."

If a faster staff solution is not found at the URVH dialysis unit, Atherton, who operates her own business in Woodstock, said she will have to find other ways to ensure her mother gets her life-saving treatment in Saint John.

"If this is going to be the case, I'm going to have to arrange for alternate drivers someway," she said. "There's no way I can keep the business going on two days a week for that length of time."