Kamloops maternity crisis forcing some pregnant women to travel for care, doctor says

While a maternity crisis is forcing some expectant Kamloops families to drive hours for prenatal care, a new mom has launched a petition aimed at ratcheting up the pressure on government officials to fix the issue.

The Thompson Region Family Obstetrics (TRFO) clinic has said it will close this summer due to a shortage of doctors. The clinic delivers most of the babies born in Kamloops — about 60 of the 100 newborns delivered each month at Royal Inland Hospital.

Amanda Yaschuk’s baby boy, Eli, was delivered last summer through TRFO.

Yaschuk and her husband, Mark, moved to Kamloops late in 2020. They did not have a family doctor when Yaschuk found out she was pregnant a year later.

She said she felt uneasy until TRFO took her in.

“I remember the person on the phone telling me, ‘We take everyone here,’” Yaschuk said. “It was such a relief to hear that because I was like, ‘OK, I have care now — I can do this.’”

The TRFO clinic acts as a safety net for pregnant women who don’t have a family doctor, accepting patients from Kamloops and the surrounding area. It has become increasingly busy in recent years as the city’s primary care crisis has been exacerbated by physician retirements and walk-in clinic closures.

Clinic still slated to close

In February, the TRFO clinic sent a letter to local physicians advising them it would close at the end of July due to a shortage of doctors.

Subsequent to that, RIH’s top doctor and the Ministry of Health told Castanet Kamloops new compensation models are being explored in an effort to bolster TRFO staffing and keep it open.

In a statement, a ministry spokesperson said those "discussions are still actively underway." Health Minister Adrian Dix was asked about the TRFO situation on Thursday and his reply was optimistic.

“We’ve been working very closely with the doctors and others working in maternity in Kamloops,” he said. “We are very positive that there will be a solution that’s worked out in advance of the closure you’re talking about.”

TRFO Dr. Shaun Davis told Castanet Kamloops on Friday that he's also optimistic a deal will soon be done, but it will not automatically fix the problem. Once a contract is ratified, qualified maternity doctors still need to be recruited and hired — a process he said could take one or two years.

“What we’re trying to do at present is secure some kind of a funding contract, which I agree the government is working very closely with us on trying to come up with what we think is a reasonable contract," Davis said.

"And then we can basically present that out to physicians in the surrounding communities.”

Travelling hours for prenatal care

Kamloops-South Thompson MLA Todd Stone said he’s hearing from a lot of constituents concerned about the crisis — some of whom are driving hours to see a maternity doctor.

“I continue to receive quite a number of emails and phone calls from expectant moms and their families who are finding themselves landing in the same situation of not having any prenatal care,” he told Castanet.

“Many of these women are unfortunately finding that their only option is to look quite a bit further afield, and some are making arrangements as far away as Chilliwack and Abbotsford. Some are going down into the Okanagan and having some success there, but others are trying the same thing and are not having the same success.”

Davis said he knows there are "absolutely" pregnant Kamloops women travelling for prenatal care. He said it's only a band-aid solution, and not a great one at that.

He said nearby communities aren't in great shape to handle an influx of new patients.

"I’m friends with some Salmon Arm doctors and they’ve seen a big spike in the number of patients driving out for their prenatal care," Davis said.

"They have recently written a letter saying, ‘We’ll do this care, but we don’t have the capacity to actually deliver all of these patients.’ These are doctors who work full-time in an office and then they’re on call for deliveries, and they can only manage occasional deliveries. Salmon Arm has I think 180 deliveries a year — that’s what we do in a couple of months.”

Davis said local women with due dates later than July 31 are still receiving basic care through the Kamloops Urgent Primary Care and Learning Centre.

"Interior Health has been trying to work out some kind of an interim plan to ensure that pregnant women are at least getting seen for their basic prenatal care because there’s some really important things that need to happen early in pregnancy to prevent future complications," he said.

"They have been trying to get those patients in for that critical first appointment where you can organize all the initial screening."

'Keep the pressure on'

Yaschuk, who hopes to grow her family in the coming years, said the thought of trying to do so without maternity care is troubling.

“I know it would be extremely stressful because I was stressed out until I found out I had care,” she said.

“So that would have continued throughout my pregnancy, wondering what do I do? Who do I see? Do I drive to another community?”

Yaschuk started an online petition in an effort to force officials at the ministry and IH to solve the TRFO problem. She said she hopes it raises awareness in the community and convinces concerned citizens to make some noise by contacting IH and the ministry.

“I think that is where we’re going to see the action happen,” she said.

“I’m hoping to push to raise the awareness and get the attention of our officials.”

Davis agreed. He said public awareness has been "the most helpful thing" in trying to fix TRFO.

"Absolutely — keep the pressure on for solutions," he said. "Our contracts usually take years to negotiate and this one has gone relatively quick, so I think that’s positive. I think just keeping the pressure on, because it’s not solved, is what we have to do.”

'Make it appealing to other physicians'

Davis said he expects it will be years before Kamloops once again has robust maternity coverage.

“Doctors who have actually stuck around do it because we’re passionate — we love it," he said.

"But there’s clearly not many of us. So the idea now is we need to make it appealing to other physicians so that they choose to continue with this as part of their practice or to make it part of their practice.

"The best thing would be that we get new graduates that come here and want to stay here. In all honesty, it’s not a huge number — four doctors is what we need willing to join and commit.”