It’s hard to imagine, but Vernon Jubilee Hospital apparently only had one person qualified to bleed into the entire building recently. A VJH official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there was a shortage of medical laboratory assistants last weekend. “And this is not the first time this has happened,” the source said. There are supposed to be at least six MLAs or lab technicians on staff at all times of the day. “There have been three or four cases recently … once, a physician (medical examiner) had to come in to get blood from a patient. “Regular blood sampling is not done on time” and patients should be screened as needed, the source said. “Patients in the emergency room are waiting.” Nurses and doctors can draw blood, but they may not have received any training in this for years, as it is not their specialty. “Each section has slipped off its feet,” the source said. “Overall, the patients were very good. They know how busy we all are.” When you need a blood draw, it is frustrating to hear “there is no ‘poker’ in the hospital.” An Internal Health spokesman said: “The Vernon Jubilee is facing the same recruitment difficulties as laboratory staff, including phlebotomists, who are on a national scale.” IH has been aggressively recruiting medical lab professionals in recent years to stabilize lab services across the region, the health authority says. “With a national shortage of professional medical laboratories across Canada, there is a high demand for recruitment in every province. “As part of Interior Health’s recruitment efforts, we are offering a signature bonus to designated hospitals to help maintain farm services and locations with long-term external suspensions.” IH also works with post-secondary education institutions across the country for in-house recruitment. The problem goes beyond the hospital. With the closure of the Sterling Center laboratory and the long waiting times reported at Valley Medical Labs, outpatients also find it difficult to get tests and blood tests done. The VJH source says the situation is exacerbated by the fact that some employees have run out of vaccine requirements and others are resigning due to workload. “We have extremely short staff all over the hospital. A lot of people are leaving because they are exhausted. We have gotten off our feet.”
