Health care grants approved but divide the board

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. – Questions about where financial weight should fall in health care funding is dividing the regional district. 

At the January 23rd regional board meeting, the Peace River Regional District (PRRD) board of directors reviewed several financial recommendations for health care services in the district. 

The recommendations included a multi-year grant of $309,000 over three years for South Peace Division of Family Practice, a multi-year grant of $216,516 for three years to the Canadian Cancer Society for the Kordyban Lodge, and a grant of $120,000 to the Northern Nations Wellness Centre.

The funds for the approved grants would come from Function 180 – Health Related Services, which is dedicated to providing funds to applicable services across the Peace River region, as well as funding ongoing health care scholarships for the region. 

Several directors raised their dissatisfaction about supporting the service in lieu of the provincial government. All the directors vocalized their recognition of the support as essential to health care services in the region, but opinions were split on how much the district should be contributing in place of provincial support.

Bradley Sperling, director for Electoral Area C, explained he is in favour of supporting the Kordyban Lodge due to the “comfort” it has provided residents. 

“It’s the health ministry and Northern Health’s job to be doing this, and we just keep getting more and more,” Sperling said. 

“We’re starting to get dangerously close to maxing that function out. Personally, I worry about cutting into our healthcare scholarship programs. I just really struggle with doing something that really isn’t our job.” 

Brent Taillefer, director for the District of Taylor agreed with Sperling, stating if there is so much need for assistance that multi-year funding is required, the province should be responsible for providing support. 

“I agree that maybe there [are] times when maybe this table could help to kickstart something, but when it’s year after year and they have proven that they need it, that should go to the province. That shouldn’t continue to be funded through this regional district,” Taillefer said. 

“If it is a need that’s needed to continue with healthcare in the north, then the province should be paying [for] it, and they should have been able to gather that data to give back to the healthcare authority.” 

Sperling proposed an amendment to the recommendation that the district replace the multi-year funding with a one-year grant of $109,000 for the South Peace Division of Family Practice, however the recommendation was defeated. 

Following the defeat, Director Travous Quibell of the District of Hudson’s Hope raised his thoughts about multi-year funding, citing concerns about ability, rather than need. 

“My concern isn’t support, I support this, I support all of these in fact, my concern is ability to support going forward. That’s really all it comes down to, we put ourselves in a corner, we are stuck there.” 

Dan Rose, director for Electoral Area E then proposed an amendment for a smaller quantity of multi-year funding, with the condition that the South Peace Division of Family Practice come and report to the board every year about its activities. 

This amendment was also defeated, and the directors returned to the original recommendation, which then passed. 

A recommendation to deny a grant request from North Peace Division of Family Practice Cooperative, and “provide no grant funding for the provision of recruitment and retention services of health care professionals in the northeast” was also presented to the board. 

The recommendation cited that the cooperative was not a not-for-profit society, and was therefore ineligible for funding through the Health-Related Services Grant-In-Aid Policy. 

However Lilia Hansen, mayor and director of Fort St. John put forward an alternative recommendation that the cooperative be considered for funding despite their not-for-profit status.

Director Darcy Dober of Dawson Creek questioned if the cooperative was in need of funding after its financial reports showed the organization closed out the year with a net profit. 

Hansen replied any extra funds always go back into the cooperative for recruitment, retention and training. 

Sperling explained that the cooperative submits a detailed financial report to the PRRD, and stated that was best practice for every health care group seeking funding. 

A policy amendment was then presented and passed which required the South Peace and North Peace family practice divisions and the cancer society to submit financial reports and present to the board annually in one of the first two meetings of the year. Before the change, the policy for Function 180 stated applicants only had to submit financial reports. 

The directors also approved the three-year grant of $72,172 a year to support Kordyban Lodge.

Decisions on a one-year grant of $120,000 to the South Peace First Nations Primary Care Clinic Society and a $120,000 grant to the Northern Nation Wellness Centre were deferred to the next regional board meeting on February 20th. 

*An earlier version of this article, published on January 24th, included the incorrect first name for Area C Director Brad Sperling and stated the PRRD had approved a grant for the Northern Nation Wellness Centre. This story has been amended to correct these errors and more contextual information has been added from the meeting.