MLA Jordan Kealy calls for residents’ healthcare stories as part of reform efforts

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — The MLA for Peace River North is collecting input from residents regarding their experiences with the healthcare system.

Jordan Kealy put out a call for residents on his social media, urging them to email his office and explain their personal experiences with healthcare in the area.

“If you have personally dealt with the healthcare system as a patient, or are employed by Northern Health, I want to hear from you,” Kealy said.

According to the post, Kealy feels collecting direct testimonies from residents like this is an important step in the process of implementing any changes to the healthcare system that residents want to see.

“To facilitate any sort of change in the system, we need everyone affected involved,” Kealy said. “The system will not change on its own. The people need to get involved now.”

He said he wants to try and approach healthcare reform from a new angle, by gathering direct input from affected residents, rather than “shouting from rooftops.”

Kealy also said he was partly inspired to call for residents’ stories of their experiences with healthcare after privately reaching out to a resident who posted about their experiences on social media, and from working through healthcare complaints and case files submitted to his office in the months since being elected.

“For anyone who had case files with the previous MLA, they were destroyed by his office following confidentiality policy,” Kealy added in his post. “If you are having issues and haven’t gotten results with other avenues, feel free to send me an email and get a new file started.”

Anyone interested in sharing their story with Kealy can do so via email.