Desiree Thring was among the more than 100 people who attended Wednesday’s town hall meeting on health care problems in Kelowna.
“I experienced first hand the struggles of trying to get help in a timely manner,” an emotional Thring told the crowd.
Thring was one of many people who took to the microphone to outline how she believes an overwhelmed health care system, including at Kelowna General Hospital (KGH), led to the early loss of both her parents.
“It’s an emotional thing to me and my life has been blown apart,” the Kelowna woman said while clutching a photo of her parents.
In addition to concerned citizens, Wednesday’s town hall also brought numerous doctors and other medical professionals who work at KGH and are concerned with the erosion of health care, such as pediatric services.
“It’s very concerning,” said Dr. Duncan de Souza, head of the anesthesia department at KGH. “I think many parents are clearly shocked that what they thought was a basic fundamental aspect of their hospital doesn’t exist anymore.”
The town hall meeting was organized by Central Okanagan Conservative MLAs Gavin Dew of Kelowna-Mission, Macklin McCall of West Kelowna-Peachland and Kristina Loewen of Kelowna Centre.
The trio has been very vocal about the crisis at KGH since the 10-bed pediatric ward closed on May 26.
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Opposition MLAs have been calling on the NDP government to fix the problems plaguing the hospital.
‘”Our ability to do that work as advocates for you is strengthened by hearing from you and that is why we are here tonight,” Dew said.
The pediatric unit closed due to too many pediatricians resigning in the last couple of years, leaving very few working at the hospital.
The specialists have gone public in recent weeks saying they have been pleading with Interior Health (IH) for changes to the staffing and health care delivery model for years but their concerns have repeatedly fallen on deaf ears.
The hospital’s maternity clinic has also fallen victim to the loss of too many doctors and is no longer accepting new patients.
“The problem is you burn out the people on the front line, you won’t have anyone else,” said Dr. Paula Espino.
Espino told the crowd she had just completed a 24-hour shift and headed straight to the town hall because it was important to make the public aware of what’s happening on the ground.
“I love my job but it’s becoming really, really hard to be in the workforce and on the front lines,” she said.
Espino said that since she started working at KGH in 2020, the department of obstetrics has shrunk by more than two-thirds.
“There was at least 40 to 45 primary care providers; that includes family doctors who do obstetrical care and midwifery teams. There were more than three groups at that time when I joined,” Espino said.
“Right now that’s boiled into one family practice group and it is less than 10 providers.”
Other hospital services were also brought to the forefront, including access to medical imaging.
“Wait times are lifetimes,” said Dr. Brenda Farnquist, the president of the BC Radiological Society. “If we do not have enough people, we can’t keep up with the demand and right now the demand is outweighing, it is out-leading what we can actually perform.”
Farnquist also got emotional while speaking on the challenges faced by radiology.
“We have really good people working in IHA helping to support us but it’s not enough and I’m here because I want the opposition to help us get the things that we need,” Farnquist said.
Emergency physician Dr. Matthew Petrie also felt compelled to speak out at the townhall.
“To be part of a movement towards positive change,” Petrie told Global News. “To really put a spotlight on this is an issue in general. So my hope is that with time, with good people working on a problem, that we will see a solution.”
In an email to Global News, IH stated, “While we did not want to take away from the purpose of the event, we did have a representative from Interior Health attend to respectfully observe and gather any new feedback. This input will help inform and guide the work we are continuing to do.”
Last week, Susan Brown stepped down from her role as CEO months ahead of her planned retirement after repeated calls for her resignation.
Brown will, however, stay on with IH to help with a leadership transition.
“If there is one thing I took away from tonight, (it) is that there is a real desire to see the system be better,” Dew said.
“There are people with good ideas. There are people who are filled with hope and they are not going to give up on this system.”
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
