A Kelowna doctor’s plea to the community is making the rounds online.
Dr. Hannah Duyvewaardt, an emergency room physician at Kelowna General Hospital (KGH), as well as a parent, took to social media Monday night to share her thoughts on the six-week closure of the hospital’s pediatric unit.
The video has been met with hundreds of supportive comments and been shared over 3,000 times in less than 48 hours.
She began by saying: “I think our community should be concerned about the current pediatric crisis that we’re having.”
When announcing the closure on May 22, Interior Health (IH) cited a doctor shortage as the reason, but Duyvewaardt claims there are other factors involved.
She explained that one physician is responsible for covering the 10-unit pediatric ward, all pediatric psychiatric patients under the age of 11, every sick kid that comes into emergency and the entire neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).
They also need to be at every C-section and delivery that could require support for the baby.
“So that’s five different places that our pediatricians are required to be at once and there’s only one on at a time,” Duyvewaardt said. “For years, (physicians) have advocated saying this is an unsafe work environment for patients.”
Duyvewaardt said there needs to be two doctors on at all times – one for the neonatal unit and deliveries and another for the emergency department and pediatric care.
“Their voices have been silenced,” she stated. “So we’re having a doctor shortage because they’re worried about putting their own moral and professional integrity at risk, as well as patients.”
Speaking from her car, still in scrubs after finishing a shift at the hospital, Duyvewaardt provided an example.
“We have a sick kid in our trauma bay from an asthma exacerbation. That pediatrician is helping me, getting their airway ready for a potential intubation, and then they get called to a C-section. And then their pager goes off again and there's a seizing baby in the NICU,” she noted.
“Which child are they going to leave? Which child will not get their care and attention. And that’s going to have negative consequences for that child and also for that physician.”
According to Duyvewaardt, there are 20 pediatricians in Kelowna, but they need better working environments so they can treat the region’s kids the way they deserve to be treated.
“I think as a community, we need to let our leaders know that our children deserve better,” she added. “So let's raise our voices and let's get this crisis sorted out with real change, and I think we can all do our part.”
IH announced the six-week closure of KGH's pediatric unit on May 22, explaining that it will be closed until at least the second week of July.
The health authority said the service disruption only impacts kids who need admission to the general unit, and anyone needing care for a child should still visit the hospital’s emergency department.
Kelowna’s Conservative MLAs have spoken out on the closure, with Kelowna–Mission representative Gavin Dew saying he finds the it “deeply troubling” as a parent.
Kelowna Centre MLA Kristina Loewen addressed public comments from doctors like Duyvewaardt that have been made since last week’s surprising announcement.
“When frontline physicians feel they must publicly speak out about health system failures, it means internal communication has failed and the Ministry of Health has stopped listening,” Loewen said.
A release from the BC Conservative caucus said it will continue to hold the provincial government and IH accountable for “the breakdown in planning, communication and leadership” that led to the closure.
The party is calling on the BC NDP to do the following:
- Listen to frontline health professionals
- Work to restore full pediatric services at KGH
- Disclose pediatric staffing levels across Interior Health
- Implement workplace reforms to prevent burnout and specialist departures
- Audit pediatric care capacity in high-growth regions like the Okanagan
