Health care takes spotlight in Kirkfield Park byelection

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This article was published 01/12/2022 (657 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Kirkfield Park byelection candidate Kevin Klein is pledging to work with city hall to increase community and advanced care paramedic units to reduce emergency department demand.

Klein made a commitment to advocate for advanced care paramedic units to be fully utilized in Winnipeg — which was also part of his unsuccessful mayoral bid in October — during a media event at his campaign office on Portage Avenue.

“If you have a strong advanced care paramedic, community care paramedic unit program, you can then… make sure people get the right care and are directed to the right place for treatment,” the Progressive Conservative candidate said Friday.

During the recent civic election, Klein campaigned on a plan to build on the City of Winnipeg’s Emergency Paramedics in the Community program, which addressed non-emergency calls. He acknowledged the commitment would require both the city and province to be willing partners.

Asked what kind of support the Tory government has signalled for the proposal, Klein said: “I’m signalling it right now.”

The former city councillor also took a shot at the New Democrats for lengthy emergency waits at the Grace Hospital when that party was in government in 2014.

“If I am fortunate enough to be the MLA for Kirkfield Park, I will continue to press for our hospital and will ensure surgical wait times continue to drop, as they have been over the last several months,” Klein said.

He erroneously stated there is “no wait list for cataract surgery,” but acknowledged the mistake when fact-checked by reporters.

Last month, Health Minister Audrey Gordon said the pandemic backlog of cataract surgery cases had been eliminated. However, at least 5,700 people were still on a wait list for cataract surgery as of September, according to the province.

Elsewhere, the Manitoba Liberal Party released its byelection health platform Friday.

It included five planks to transform the health-care system, including: prevention and collaboration with family doctors and health-care teams; regulation of psychotherapy; encourage health-care workers to speak up about working conditions; increasing health training seats at the University of Manitoba; and requiring regional health authorities to answer MLA questions at committee meetings.

Liberal candidate and research nurse Rhonda Nichol pledged to organize a town hall at the Grace Hospital, if elected MLA in Kirkfield Park.

“I’ve worked in a system where great people are doing their best to provide care with minimal support from this government,” Nichol said in a release. “We will also set up a phone hotline for front-line workers to my office, so that they can reach me directly and in confidence.”

Advance voting for the Kirkfield Park byelection begins Dec. 3 and continues until Dec. 10. Advance polling locations are located at 2645 Portage Ave. and 401 Westwood Dr.

Other candidates running include Dennis Bayomi (Green) and Logan Oxenham (NDP).

“As a city councillor, Kevin Klein did nothing to help paramedics or secure a deal with the province on EMS services. Even worse, the party he is running for has made life worse for paramedics by refusing to let them work to their full scope of practice. Kirkfield Park voters can’t trust Kevin Klein and the PCs when it comes to health care. Only the NDP is listening to nurses at the Grace and will fix the damage the PCs have caused in our health care system. Kirkfield Park families deserve an MLA who lives in the community — and a team that can win,” Oxenham said.

The byelection is Dec. 13.

danielle.dasilva@freepress.mb.ca