Rally Sends Clear Message On Vision Centre

Apr 29, 2019 | 5:26 PM

First a rally — and next a petition.

That’s the game plan of residents and service clubs trying to keep the Lions Vision Centre in Armstrong.

Interior Health is talking about moving the facility to Vernon Jubilee Hospital as a way to deal with a shortage of anesthesiologists.

Over 100 people attended a rally at the facility today, with Diann Boyd of the Armstrong Lions Club saying people are concerned and puzzled as they why I-H wants to move the well-run facility.

“We had representatives from Greg Kyllo’s office. He’s in Victoria so he couldn’t be there but he does support us. And the mayor of Enderby was there. Our own mayor would have been there but he’s out of town,” Boyd tells Beach Radio News.

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She says they will be organizing a petition to further support their case.

“It will be far and wide reaching. It will be online and everywhere, and then we will present that to the boss (of IH),” says Boyd.

Richard Harding, North Okanagan Administrator for Interior Health, says no decisions have been made about the facility, as they look to address the staffing challenges for anesthesiologists, which he says is a Canada-wide issue.

Boyd says their group is skeptical of IH’s motives because discussions on a possible move started long before the community had any inkling of it.

“We weren’t let know they when they started having this difficulty…..Pardon my skepticism but we don’t believe they’re not going to move it.”

The Vision Centre opened in 2001 after a fundraising effort by Lions Clubs, and provides thousands of vision surgeries each year including for cataracts and glaucoma.

by Corey Fischer