Interior Health (IH) is launching the Right Care, Right Place campaign across the region next week.
The campaign is part of a joint pilot project between Kootenay Boundary Division of Family Practice and IH. It’s goal is to help reduce wait times in the emergency department by asking residents to consider other places to receive care. That includes talking to pharmacist, who can help with certain conditions, or calling HealthLink BC at 811.
As part of the change, medical clinics from Christina Lake to Rock Creek now have additional nurses and social workers who are available for urgent appointments. Health Services Administrator with IH, Cheryl Whittleton, has some examples of local cases. “Some minor lump and bump removal procedures in their offices and not have to go up to the emerge and then wait. The other, in Christina Lake we’ve had some examples where one patient needed stitches and they came to the clinic and they were able to get stitched up in the clinic.”
Whittleton explains why the Boundary was chosen for the pilot: “When they come into any [emergency department] they are triaged and they are given a level as to how urgent their needs are and the less acute patients presented are assigned like a level four or five. The number of four or fives in Grand Forks was actually the highest in Interior Health.”
She adds another benefit of choosing a clinic is having one consistent person care for your health which could mean better service overall.
Whilttleton says this will likely be rolled out on a larger scale. “It is in the pilot stages right now. We are working closely with the divisions on rolling this out to the rest of Kootenay Boundary. We are working on a proposal to government which is due October 1 to expand this out.”