Conservatives need to reverse catastrophic changes planned for Mature Women’s Health

Among the recent Pallister government cuts is the elimination of the Mature Women’s Centre at Victoria Hospital.  This misguided decision will reduce the quality of care for women and will not save many dollars because the result will divest services from a consolidated center of excellence, increase patient visits and will lead to more costly procedures and more expensive health care.

For more than 20 years, the team of physicians, nurses and allied health care workers who are part of the Mature Women’s Centre at Victoria Hospital, have provided superb health care for women throughout the menopause transition and particularly for those with complex issues like abnormal uterine bleeding and uterine fibroids.

The Mature Women’s Centre program is cost effective because:

1)  It is delivered cooperatively, in a nurse-managed fashion, by a superb team which includes a pharmacist, a dietitian and a kinesiologist.  This provides cost-effective use of nurses and allied health professionals to give excellent care.

2)  Surgical procedures normally done in a more expensive operating room setting are conducted in a much lower cost procedure room.  

3) Considerable numbers of women achieve effective alternative treatment which avoids or prevents the need for expensive hysterectomy surgery.

The Costs saved from a) are $144,221 per year, from b) are $283,130 per year, and from c) are from $135,000 to $360,000 per year.  The total cost savings from the Mature Women’s Centre programs are considerable (from 562,311 to $787,311 per year) and argue strongly against closing this program.

The province should build on excellence rather than destroying it.  A government that builds on excellence supports the development of high-quality programs that put patients first.  Building on excellence should be at the very core of our public policy.    

As MLA for River Heights and a candidate to be the next Leader of the Manitoba Liberal Party, I call on the Pallister government to immediately restore the Mature Women’s Centre program.  It is vital to keep this high-quality program intact, along with its excellent interdisciplinary health team. 

If you, like me, are opposed to the elimination of the Mature Women's Centre, please email Kelvin Goertzen, the Minister of Health at minhsal@leg.gov.mb.ca or call him at 204-945-3731 to express your concern. 

If I become leader of the Manitoba Liberal Party (“MLP”), I will work vigorously to support excellence in health care in Manitoba rather than destroying it.   Please help me do so by taking out a MLP membership and voting for me at October’s leadership convention.  Click on this link https://www.manitobaliberals.ca/donate  and be sure to put, in the space for a “Note” near the top of the second page (under the email), “in support of Jon Gerrard.”   Thank you for your help.