Trail’s mayor is feeling optimistic following a meeting last week with Interior Health officials to discuss the future of the city’s downtown medical lab.
“It went really, really well,” Colleen Jones said of the meeting, which also included the boards of the new community health centre and a couple of doctors from the hospital.
“We had a good group of people at the table trying to have a discussion about how we are going to move forward and what that’s going to look like for the community, the health care workers, the physicians, and everyone involved. It was a really good conversation.”
The lab was marked for closure in late July. Interior Health said it was trying to make the best use of limited resources in Trail by moving staff to the regional hospital and LifeLabs at Waneta Plaza. However, the move has been panned by patients, doctors, and city council.
Jones said everyone had a chance at the meeting to explain to Interior Health why they believe it’s important for the clinic to stay put. She suggested it made little sense to move the lab when the community health centre is in the same building. Also raised were issues around transit, scheduling, and accessibility for people with disabilities or who can’t drive themselves to the mall.
Jones said another meeting has been scheduled for Tuesday. “We want to make sure we keep this ball rolling,” she said. “I think all sides are feeling good. I’m feeling very optimistic. We have an opportunity to collaborate on this situation, whereas previously we were just told it was happening. We had no ability to be part of the conversation.”
Still, Jones isn’t making any promises and Interior Health has not stated that closing the lab is off the table. Jones said the lab needs to be somewhere that suits the community, but they are exploring all options.
“I don’t want to get anybody’s hopes up. Now that we have a pause and the ability to take the time to look at all those options, I think that’s very promising. We are not in a rush to close the clinic. We want to make sure we get this right.”
For now, patients can still go to the Trail Health Centre, Monday to Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. or LifeLabs at Waneta Plaza, Monday to Friday from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.
