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| St. Paul's Hospital - The Tyee photo |
BC Liberals backtrack on Premier Christy Clark promise to
renovate historic downtown hospital.
Bill Tieleman’s 24 Hours Vancouver /
The Tyee column
Tuesday
April 21, 2015
By Bill Tieleman
“We
are going to be putting people's lives in harms' way."
-
Aaron Jasper, former Save St. Paul's Hospital Coalition chair
Forget
the spin that closing St. Paul's Hospital in Vancouver's West End and opening a
giant new facility in East Vancouver's False Creek flats is "world-leading."
It's
actually an enormous error; an outright betrayal of BC Liberal Premier Christy
Clark's 2012 promise to renovate St. Paul's; an expensive option costing
taxpayers an extra $500 million more than a completely feasible retrofit; and a
move that may compromise the health care of over 100,000 people
living near the existing hospital.
B.C.
Health Minister Terry Lake already admits
the new St. Paul's Hospital will "likely" be a controversial
public-private-partnership development, which often wind up costing taxpayers
more just to keep debt off government books.
And
Providence Health Care, the non-profit that runs the site, will surely sell the
property for an enormous and profitable multi-billion dollar condominium play.
Demolished
for condos?
The
St. Paul's land is assessed at $370 million already -- imagine how much it's
worth full of the kind of high-rises that already
dominate
the West End skyline.
Jasper,
a former Vancouver Park Board chair, says it will likely lead to the closing of
another Vancouver hospital, Mount St. Joseph's at Kingsway near East 12th Ave.
"I
think Mount St. Joseph's will go," Jasper said in a Sunday interview with
24 Hours Vancouver.
Demolishing
St. Paul's for condos will mean that the millions spent by taxpayers to
extensively renovate the emergency room and new buildings,
which opened in the 1980s and are all functioning, will have been wasted.
And
the new hospital would be built on an earthquake-prone
flood plain, not good when the big shaker finally hits Vancouver.
Amazingly,
this is all being hyped as putting "the patient at the centre of
care," according to Dianne Doyle,
Providence Health Care president, in a news release.
Somehow
I don't think patients -- or residents -- were consulted on this plan, because
the consequences could be dire for those who depend on St. Paul's Hospital now.
The
new site is three kilometres to the east of the current hospital: adding 35
minutes to a car trip from the West End; about 30 minutes to a transit ride and
an extra 49 minutes if walking.
And
for many Vancouver residents, their hospital of choice will switch from St.
Paul's to an already overcrowded Vancouver General Hospital because it will be
closer and easier to get to.
The
BC Liberals promised to renovate St. Paul's prior to the 2013 provincial
election, removing it as possible issue.
A
February 2012 Providence
Health Care Concept Plan concluded definitively: "The new-site
option was ultimately rejected as too expensive."
Premier
promises renovation
And
in a June 13, 2012 government news release headlined: "Premier Clark
Commits to Redeveloping St. Paul's Hospital," Clark laid it out clearly:
"I
want patients and I want our health care professionals to know that they can
have confidence in the great priority my government has put on redeveloping
this hospital, modernizing it and bringing it into this new century. So that's
why I'm so excited today to announce with a firm commitment that we are moving
ahead on developing a concept plan for redevelopment of St. Paul's Hospital as
part of our Budget 2012," Clark said in an online
government video:
Then-health
minister Mike de Jong chimed in on video: "An exciting day here at St.
Paul's when Premier Clark arrives to really formalize the commitment to get on
with the redevelopment of the hospital here."
Those
promises led to the Save St. Paul's Hospital Coalition disbanding, says Jasper,
because they thought: "Hey, we won!"
And
then-B.C. health minister Margaret MacDiarmid gave more reassurances in
February 2013 on the election eve: "St. Paul's Hospital is world-renowned
for its research, teaching and care. We're making sure it remains a hub of
innovation, excellence and compassionate patient care, serving British
Columbian families far into the future," MacDiarmid said.
But
that was then and this is now, and Clark has yet to comment on her broken
promise, instead letting others praise the plan.
That
hasn't yet included the city of Vancouver, which the B.C. government surprised
with the announcement. It's telling because Vancouver will have to deal with
the consequences but wasn't consulted on the decision.
Former
BC Liberal attorney general Geoff Plant, now chair of Providence's board of
directors was effusive.
"Health
care has to trump nostalgia," he claimed,
as if this was merely a case of a heritage building standing in the way of
progress.
In
fact, Clark's brazen broken pledge is about privatization and profits coming
before patients and promises.
To
be clear, a new, larger hospital has benefits and many good people support the
plan, despite the distance and higher costs.
But
Jasper, now a realtor, says it's all about location, location, location.
"We're
encouraging people to live downtown -- so shouldn't we have at least some
significant level of emergency and acute care services?"
Saving
St. Paul's Hospital in its existing location may never be more important.
.
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