A remote clinic in the West Chilcotin will be getting a piece of specialized cardiac equipment after having received $50,000 from the provincial government.
President of the West Chilcotin Healthcare Society and retired physician at Tatlayoko Lake, Dr. Mike Smialowski says they couldn’t believe it, adding that he had been in talks with Cariboo-Chilcotin MLA Donna Barnett.
“It was I think the night before the end of the fiscal year she said to email this gentleman here and let him know what you need and we sent him the equipment list,” he says.
“The next day we got an email back saying you can expect a cheque in the mail and the next couple of weeks we got a cheque and we almost fell over when we opened it up.”.
The equipment according to Smialowski will increase the medical capabilities within the community.
“When I was working out here, the clinic in Tatla Lake certainly did not have a lot in the way of equipment,” he says.
“What we at first were looking for was a piece of special cardiac monitor that would be portable when we had to do medical evacuations either by road ambulance or helicopter we would have something that we could take with the patient that was light and portable.”
The clinic provides primary and interim emergency care to 500 people, serving the regions of Kleena Kleene, Puntzi, Chilko, Bluff, Sapeye, Tatla and Tatlayoko lakes with the nearest hospital three hours away in Williams Lake.
The government funds supplement the $40,000 raised in the community over the past several years.