The Northwest is facing a shortage medical laboratory technologists, a vital part of the healthcare system and the situation looks to get worse in the next five years.
A vital part of healthcare system is facing a looming shortage that looks to get worse in the next five years in the Northwest.
Karen Parker, the program director and quality coordinator for the Kenora Rainy River regional lab program which includes the hospital laboratories in Kenora, Dryden, Atikokan, Sioux Lookout, Red Lake, and Fort Frances, said the profession faces a retirement rate of about 18 per cent in the next one to five years.
Michelle Hoad, the CEO of the Medical Laboratory Professional Association of Ontario, said that provincially, 41 per cent of laboratory technologists are eligible to retire in the next four to six years, and many have taken early retirement due to the stress of COVID-19.She said she came to update the group with provincial developments, but also to hear about the situation in the Northwest, saying it's especially dire in rural and remote communities.
"Your car's not going run unless you have an engine. And within healthcare, [it’s] the lab. [The] system won't run unless you have a lab that's fully staffed and that everybody is working to make sure that those results come out,” she said. “So we are doing our best to try to reinforce that this is a priority.”
“We do 7,300 tests a day here, we're a 365, seven-day a week, 24-hour a day operation. We are so short staffed. It's indescribable,” she said.
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