Kelowna unhappiest city

[Urban Cowboy]

Flintstones, wild waters, Malibu, the boardwalk roller rink. Old MacDonald farm, wildnwet in Westbank. All were family fun places to go. Every single one is gone with nothing to replace it.

yup, there's really nothing here now except tons of over priced wineries

a better traffic/transit system would be great, the footprint has never changed here yet we're cramming more and more people into this small city

another hospital would be great, more affordable income based housing would be great

and whoever thought building a huge Events Center in the main downtown core was a dummy

How pray tell do you figure the footprint has never changed?

There was nothing on the south slopes thirty to forty years back, and much of the Westside was fields.

A lot of the South Slopes development went into high gear after the 2003 fire burnt all the trees.

Other areas like McKinley Beach also didn't exist.

The way I see it the footprint has gotten bigger.

[Patron]

yup, there's really nothing here now except tons of over priced wineries

a better traffic/transit system would be great, the footprint has never changed here yet we're cramming more and more people into this small city

another hospital would be great, more affordable income based housing would be great

and whoever thought building a huge Events Center in the main downtown core was a dummy

How pray tell do you figure the footprint has never changed?

There was nothing on the south slopes thirty to forty years back, and much of the Westside was fields.

A lot of the South Slopes development went into high gear after the 2003 fire burnt all the trees.

Other areas like McKinley Beach also didn't exist.

The way I see it the footprint has gotten bigger.

talking about the downtown core, obviously the entire city has expanded and again still only one hospital

[Urban Cowboy]

Well where hospitals are concerned it's not that far to go to Vernon and in fact my doctor often asks me where I'd prefer to go.

For some things Vernon has far less wait time than Kelowna.

Penticton also has a hospital, so in that regard, we here aren't nearly as hard done by as someone who say lives in Greenwood.

[kgcayenne]

…obviously the entire city has expanded and again still only one hospital

Disclaimer: I am not against sustainable development

Go take a look at how many developments are in progress and proposed. Thousands of units. Here is the City’s proposed DCC rate table. Notice the lack of any kind of heath system consideration:

Can’t find a doctor? Golly gee whillakers, makes you wonder what happened…

[Patron]

…obviously the entire city has expanded and again still only one hospital

Disclaimer: I am not against sustainable development

Go take a look at how many developments are in progress and proposed. Thousands of units. Here is the City’s proposed DCC rate table. Notice the lack of any kind of heath system consideration:

IMG_4572.png

Can’t find a doctor? Golly gee whillakers, makes you wonder what happened…

exactly, but I guess since we're close to Vernon and Penticton and they have a hospitals , we're gonna be ok

[Urban Cowboy]

Disclaimer: I am not against sustainable development

Go take a look at how many developments are in progress and proposed. Thousands of units. Here is the City’s proposed DCC rate table. Notice the lack of any kind of heath system consideration:

IMG_4572.png

Can’t find a doctor? Golly gee whillakers, makes you wonder what happened…

exactly, but I guess since we're close to Vernon and Penticton and they have a hospitals , we're gonna be ok

I think you're just being obtuse now given the millions that have been spent on the three Okanagan hospitals in the last decade.

What we have isn't even being fully utilized due to staff shortages, lack of equipment etc., so it seems to me building another hospital to placate you, would be little more than an exercise in futility.

BTW we have a shortage of doctors and nurses in all of BC. Hence why I pointed out that we are better off than many, who are hours from decent health care, but that doesn't fit your whining agenda obviously.

I takes a whole half hour to drive to Vernon, so ask someone who has to come in from Castlegar, or some other distant place for a specialist appointment, how much of an inconvenience a half hour drive is.

[Patron]

exactly, but I guess since we're close to Vernon and Penticton and they have a hospitals , we're gonna be ok

I think you're just being obtuse now given the millions that have been spent on the three Okanagan hospitals in the last decade.

What we have isn't even being fully utilized due to staff shortages, lack of equipment etc., so it seems to me building another hospital to placate you, would be little more than an exercise in futility.

BTW we have a shortage of doctors and nurses in all of BC. Hence why I pointed out that we are better off than many, who are hours from decent health care, but that doesn't fit your whining agenda obviously.

I takes a whole half hour to drive to Vernon, so ask someone who has to come in from Castlegar, or some other distant place for a specialist appointment, how much of an inconvenience a half hour drive is.

hey now, I'm not whining , I am being realistic. As the other poster just posted there's way more developments happening here which will increase the population and this one hospital is already running on fumes. Kelowna is not going to stop growing so the infrastructure needs to grow with the community

and as a person who had to go to Vancouver for a major operation because Kelowna doesn't have the specialists to do it, I know first hand about travelling for medical reasons, I also have met many people who have to travel here for treatment . I just saw that Kamloops is now going to build a Cancer Clinic and thank god for that and the people who will use it.

[kgcayenne]

My daughter has to go to Vancouver 2x per year to see her specialist.

[normaM]

not saying it should happen but maybe Canadians should get first in line finding a family doctor.
I thought ppl would support my use the HOV lanes as regular lanes
Harvey was a wild time at noon
Also that little level.. its a turn signal, might wanna use it

[Patron]

My daughter has to go to Vancouver 2x per year to see her specialist.

that sucks and must be expensive, my one week trip cost us $2000 for hotel room/parking and food and we got a kitchenette so we could cook for ourselves and not eat out, also very lucky having extended benefits, as some of my meds were pricey and I was able to get a hospital room that I only had to share with one person. Praying I don't have to go again but if I have any issues I will be :(

[Urban Cowboy]

I think you're just being obtuse now given the millions that have been spent on the three Okanagan hospitals in the last decade.

What we have isn't even being fully utilized due to staff shortages, lack of equipment etc., so it seems to me building another hospital to placate you, would be little more than an exercise in futility.

BTW we have a shortage of doctors and nurses in all of BC. Hence why I pointed out that we are better off than many, who are hours from decent health care, but that doesn't fit your whining agenda obviously.

I takes a whole half hour to drive to Vernon, so ask someone who has to come in from Castlegar, or some other distant place for a specialist appointment, how much of an inconvenience a half hour drive is.

hey now, I'm not whining , I am being realistic. As the other poster just posted there's way more developments happening here which will increase the population and this one hospital is already running on fumes. Kelowna is not going to stop growing so the infrastructure needs to grow with the community

and as a person who had to go to Vancouver for a major operation because Kelowna doesn't have the specialists to do it, I know first hand about travelling for medical reasons, I also have met many people who have to travel here for treatment . I just saw that Kamloops is now going to build a Cancer Clinic and thank god for that and the people who will use it.

Sorry to hear of your challenges but your statement that Kelowna didn't have the specialist you needed emphasizes the point I was making.

A hospital is just a building without staff, and it's that shortage of doctors/specialists that plagues us the most. That's what government has to address and the sooner the better.

One thing that would help is cutting the red tape, associated with getting foreign trained medical practitioners accredited here. There's something wrong when doctors who move here from other lands find themselves working as janitors and such, because our system doesn't recognize their training.

Even covering the costs associated with getting them certified here would be a win, and could be contingent on them working in desperately in need locales for a set amount of time.

If I recall correctly, I believe the new tower at Vernon Hospital still has floors that haven't been put in service, due to lack of staff and equipment. Not sure if that's changed or not since last time I was there.

There's zero reason to construct anything new when what we have is not fully utilized.

[Patron]

hey now, I'm not whining , I am being realistic. As the other poster just posted there's way more developments happening here which will increase the population and this one hospital is already running on fumes. Kelowna is not going to stop growing so the infrastructure needs to grow with the community

and as a person who had to go to Vancouver for a major operation because Kelowna doesn't have the specialists to do it, I know first hand about travelling for medical reasons, I also have met many people who have to travel here for treatment . I just saw that Kamloops is now going to build a Cancer Clinic and thank god for that and the people who will use it.

Sorry to hear of your challenges but your statement that Kelowna didn't have the specialist you needed emphasizes the point I was making.

A hospital is just a building without staff, and it's that shortage of doctors/specialists that plagues us the most. That's what government has to address and the sooner the better.

One thing that would help is cutting the red tape, associated with getting foreign trained medical practitioners accredited here. There's something wrong when doctors who move here from other lands find themselves working as janitors and such, because our system doesn't recognize their training.

Even covering the costs associated with getting them certified here would be a win, and could be contingent on them working in desperately in need locales for a set amount of time.

If I recall correctly, I believe the new tower at Vernon Hospital still has floors that haven't been put in service, due to lack of staff and equipment. Not sure if that's changed or not since last time I was there.

There's zero reason to construct anything new when what we have is not fully utilized.

but Vernon has a pop of 40,000, Kelowna's pop is 132,000..West Kelowna's pop is creeping up at 32,000 and we have employee shortages because they keep allowing higher immigration - more people more need

[Rejigger]

exactly, but I guess since we're close to Vernon and Penticton and they have a hospitals , we're gonna be ok

I think you're just being obtuse now given the millions that have been spent on the three Okanagan hospitals in the last decade.

What we have isn't even being fully utilized due to staff shortages, lack of equipment etc., so it seems to me building another hospital to placate you, would be little more than an exercise in futility.

BTW we have a shortage of doctors and nurses in all of BC. Hence why I pointed out that we are better off than many, who are hours from decent health care, but that doesn't fit your whining agenda obviously.

I takes a whole half hour to drive to Vernon, so ask someone who has to come in from Castlegar, or some other distant place for a specialist appointment, how much of an inconvenience a half hour drive is.

Exactly true. Kelowna General Hospital has expanded con-sid-er-ably in the last 30 years. So to point out that there's "still only one hospital" is misleading. The hospital could easily further expand its footprint since it owns a good portion of the real estate around it (the "hospital zone").

Why expand a hospital that can't be staffed? There's a world-wide shortage of healthcare workers ...so... as much as some here think Kelowna is da bomb, it's still inadequate when it comes to attracting enough healthcare workers from other parts of the province/country.

Cue the people who blame Kelowna's high housing costs for everything, as if doctors and nurses can't qualify for mortgages (they'll never lose on resale)...

~

[Rejigger]

I just saw that Kamloops is now going to build a Cancer Clinic and thank god for that and the people who will use it.

Good for Kamloops, getting a cancer centre. Hope healthcare workers don't leave Kelowna to go to Kamloops, what with the high cost of housing in Kelowna and all. Time to buy real estate in Kamloops.

(tax tip: save your receipts for medical travel so you can write them off on your personal taxes)

~

[Urban Cowboy]

Sorry to hear of your challenges but your statement that Kelowna didn't have the specialist you needed emphasizes the point I was making.

A hospital is just a building without staff, and it's that shortage of doctors/specialists that plagues us the most. That's what government has to address and the sooner the better.

One thing that would help is cutting the red tape, associated with getting foreign trained medical practitioners accredited here. There's something wrong when doctors who move here from other lands find themselves working as janitors and such, because our system doesn't recognize their training.

Even covering the costs associated with getting them certified here would be a win, and could be contingent on them working in desperately in need locales for a set amount of time.

If I recall correctly, I believe the new tower at Vernon Hospital still has floors that haven't been put in service, due to lack of staff and equipment. Not sure if that's changed or not since last time I was there.

There's zero reason to construct anything new when what we have is not fully utilized.

but Vernon has a pop of 40,000, Kelowna's pop is 132,000..West Kelowna's pop is creeping up at 32,000 and we have employee shortages because they keep allowing higher immigration - more people more need

I'm aware, but did you miss the part where I said, Vernon Hospital also serves a lot of people who don't live in Vernon? It serves a critical role for the Okanagan not just Vernon. When my doctor ordered a colonoscopy the wait time at KGH was just under five years, while Vernon was under one year. I didn't mind driving half an hour to cut my wait time by four years.

Not quite following your employee shortages due to higher immigration remark, or you haven't quite thought it through.

Does it not stand to reason that with more immigration, more people with needed skills would also be in the mix?

You make it sound as though those incoming have nothing to offer. That's just wrong.