It has been more than a month since wildfire -evacuated nurses from Williams Lake have been working with kidney dialysis patients in Prince George.
The nurses said the University Hospital of Northern British Columbia gave them their own section in the hospital and a nurse to help them adjust, but it has been a learning curve for them since July 10.
“At first we had to learn how to use the machines and doing paperwork for a different health authority,” said Kelly-Anne O’Neill, who was joined by fellow nurses Megan Bowers and Kerri Oler for a phone interview with the Tribune.
While Williams Lake falls under Interior Health, Prince George is in Northern Health, she added.
The dialysis machines operate the same but are a different brand.
Originally, 18 patients relying on dialysis treatment at Cariboo Memorial Hospital were evacuated to Prince George along with the nurses.
O’Neill said each patient requires three treatments a week and it takes four hours for the patient’s blood to be filtered.
“Because our hospital is not fully operational they cannot get the treatment in Williams Lake,” O’Neill said. “But if they don’t get the treatment they will die.”
The nurses and the patients have been staying in hotels, which means several of the nurses have been living apart from their families.
“Some of the patients have pets and family members staying with them,” O’Neill said. “Some of them have mobility issues too, so I think that’s why we are still here, because under an evacuation alert the patients would have to be prepared to leave in a moment’s notice. As long as we are under an alert they are not going to bring us back to Williams Lake.”
For the patients, the relocation has been trying too, Bowers said.
“One of them said it is stressful but they are happy to see us and having their regular nurses has been something constant for them.”
Quite a few of the patients said the same thing, Oler said.
All three nurses said people in Prince George at the hospital have been helpful and welcoming.
“Some days they even brought lunches in for us,” O’Neill said. “I had one lady even buying my groceries.”
O’Neill has worked at the hospital since 2011, Oler since 2014 and Bowers since 2015.
In Prince George they’ve continued to work basically the same shifts they would in Williams Lake, although Bowers has been working a bit more than she normally would.
Last weekend, O’Neill returned home to 150 Mile House for the first time since July 7 to get some clothes and other items.
“When we were evacuated from 150 I went to stay at my brother-in-law’s in Williams Lake and then from there on July 10,” she said. “I had to borrow some scrubs even.”