The board of the Fraser Health Authority is coming to Ladner next week to discuss health care in Delta.
Residents are invited to observe the board's public meeting next Wednesday afternoon at the Delta Town & Country Inn, which will include a presentation on health care services offered in Delta as well as one by FHA CEO Dr. Nigel Murray. A one-hour question-and-answer session for the public will follow.
The last time Murray made such a presentation and answered questions in South Delta was at a September 2012 meeting in Tsawwassen.
At that event, he announced the first phase of Delta Hospital's Master Concept Plan, an expansion of the diagnostic imaging and lab services to cost $11.6 million, of which the Delta Hospital Foundation agreed to pay $7.5 million.
Following his presentation, Murray answered several questions on local health care issues, the toughest coming from former foundation chair Kimberley Arthur-Leung, who asked him to show examples of how the health region took a financial leadership role when it comes to initiatives in Delta.
She listed several examples of how the foundation and hospital auxiliary were expected to pay the lion's share for many projects, including the expanded emergency ward and imaging equipment.
Murray answered that he believes in partnerships and there's a strong one between the health region and Delta. He said the relationship, in fact, is much stronger than it was years earlier, when the direction of the hospital wasn't clear and its ER faced nighttime closures.
Murray most recently made news last summer when it was announced the South Delta Public Health Unit in the Ladner would become a "satellite" location. Murray and health region officials met with a group of concerned residents late last year to explain the planned changes, which proceeded without amendment.
Next Wednesday's public board meeting will run from 2 to 4 p.m., followed by the one-hour questionand-answer session. For more information, call the FHA at 604-587-4600.
