Health care and seniors in Tyndall Park

Tyndall Park

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 24/07/2024 (434 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

During the last provincial election, the NDP made a lot of promises about how it planned to improve our decimated health-care services in Manitoba. One of those promises included investing more at Seven Oaks Hospital, enabling it to bring back emergency services. I am still waiting for any type of plan on that commitment.

In the meantime, many people in Tyndall Park and elsewhere have raised specific issues with me that fall under the purview of provincial health care:

• Accreditation for internationally educated health-care workers;

• Pathways for LPNs to become RNs;

• Removing mandatory overtime;

• CPAP machine equipment;

• Difficulty in getting home-care services;

• Coverage for the shingles vaccine;

• Coverage for hearing aids;

• Seniors in hospitals.

I share these to reassure you that they are being raised at the Manitoba legislature, and I will continue to put pressure on this government to fulfill the commitments they have made, and to address new issues that arise daily in our health-care system.

Many Manitobans, most notably seniors, do not have primary care physicians. The NDP promised nearly a year ago that it would hire over 400 more physicians and hire back the 300 cut by the previous Progressive Conservative government. This huge promise continues to become a larger issue every day – as it cannot be fulfilled, owing to several factors which include the fact that we simply do not have physicians and nurses to hire. The whole country is stretched thin and many health-care professionals have left our province, and continue to leave, because of the mistreatment of consecutive past governments.

There is also a significant need for more personal care home beds and, I would also argue, assisted living homes and 55-plus homes. As seniors continue to age, we as provincial officials, need to do more to enable them to remain in their homes and communities as long as possible. I am grateful the NDP took my suggestion and proposal seriously and has created a bit of a budget specifically for home renovations and repairs. If you live in Tyndall Park and it is becoming difficult to remain in your house because of an issue of infrastructure, please let me know and we can talk about your potential options.

On the topic of seniors, for years I have been pushing for a senior’s advocate, and I am glad that the government has also taken my suggestion and created an independent office for a Seniors Advocate. In 2016 I met with the independent seniors advocate in Victoria, B.C., and I brought this knowledge back to Manitoba. I started talking about it through legislation, member statements, in question period, in debate and in committees. In the beginning, neither the NDP or PCs supported the idea, however, the NDP got on board in 2020 and started to support it — so much so that it included the idea in its 2023 provincial election platform. Pushing good ideas can pay off.

If you live in Tyndall Park and have a health-care issue that is close to your heart, please do let me know. You can email me at cindy@gocindy.ca or visit me at McDonalds on Keewatin every Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.