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Port Moody hospital hallway medicine concerns HSA

Health Sciences Association blaming on-site filming for problem but Fraser Health says movie shoot is taking place in wards that aren't being used and patients aren't affected
Health Sciences Association
Temporary beds located in a hallway next to the Eagle Ridge Hospital emergency department. The Health Sciences Association says patient care is affected by such arrangements and is asking for Fraser Health to ban filming in hospitals during busy winter months. Fraser Health says the wards used for filming were not used for patients and have been empty for over a year.

Eagle Ridge Hospital is allowing a Hollywood film to be shot in empty wards while patients wait for care in hallways, the union representing health care professionals charges.

Val Avery, the president of the Health Sciences Association, said she received complaints last week from ERH staff about patients being treated in corridors.

She went to the Port Moody hospital and took photographs of empty beds separated by curtains next to the emergency department and told the The Tri-City News patient care is impacted by such temporary measures.

"If our staff is concerned they can't get to patients and treat them appropriately, and patients are in a situation that's not good for health and delays recovery — that's our concern," said Avery, whose union represents dieticians, occupational therapists, respiratory therapists, social workers, lab techs and pharmacists.

She wants Fraser Health to ban the use of hospital wards for filming during busy winter months when emergency departments are overflowing with people suffering from the flu and injuries from falls.

But Fraser Health says patient care has not been compromised by filming of The Mountain Between Us because the two wards being rented by the movie company have not been needed for over a year and using them for emergency room overflows wouldn't be an efficient use of resources because people don't stay long in ER and the overflows are short-term.

"This did not impact patient care at all," spokesperson Tasleem Juma said about the rental, from Jan. 31 to Feb. 9, of two wards for the romance-disaster film featuring actors Kate Winslet (Titanic, Finding Neverland) and Idris Elba (Beasts of No Nation, The Wire).

Juma said the space was available because the hospital does a good job of managing patient flows, either getting them into a bed quickly or treating and discharging them, and the agency that manages film requests agreed to the filming opportunity.

As to why patients were seen in hallways, Juma said that was a temporary situation caused by overflows in the emergency room but would likely have been cleared up within hours or a day at most.

This is the second time in a year that Eagle Ridge Hospital has been used for filming and Juma said money from renting space goes to a fund for staff development.

Meanwhile, Eagle Ridge Hospital Foundation continues to press for a $15.5 million expansion of the emergency department to double its size, noting that 50,619 emergency visits were handled in 2016, and the space has reached capacity.

"The truth is [with] the current 2.1% annual growth in population, we simply cannot continue to function in a hospital space that is 50% of the recommended size," the 2015/’16 annual report states.