Bella Coola director reflects on 43 years in health care as retirement day approaches

A self-described “lifetimer” of B.C.’s Central Coast, Michel Bazille, director of Bella Coola General Hospital and Bella Bella’s RW Large Memorial Hospital, has only been an official VCH staff member for two years but her working career at Bella Coola hospital began in 1973. At 19, she was hired on as the receptionist in the outpatient clinic.

At that time, the hospitals were operated by the United Church of Canada. (They later were operated under the United Church Health Services Society, or UCHSS). Both hospitals officially became part of VCH in 2014, though their affiliation dates back to 2001.

Michel Bazille

With her family in tow, Michel briefly relocated to Kelowna in 1999 to work for what is now Interior Health, but a plea for help from the Chief of Medical Staff in Bella Coola brought her back to the Central Coast community where she continued her varied career in health care. With hard work, smarts, the right attitude and a keenness to learn, Michel moved up the ranks to director.

But now it’s time try something new, she says. An avid outdoor enthusiast, Michel is retiring this month and moving into a career in tourism, assisting her partner in his local business – Bella Coola Grizzly Tours Inc.

“I will miss the excellent people who provide the health care services to our two remote sites,” says Michel. “Connecting with these folks daily at the Bella Coola site and on my visits to Bella Bella, I’m always grateful for their dedication to health care service, whether it be in housekeeping or as the emergency RN, these folks are part of the team.”

Instrumental role

VCH will miss Michel, too.

“Michel’s leadership was instrumental in ensuring a smooth transition from UCHSS to VCH two years ago,” says Mike Nader, Chief Operating Officer – Coastal. “Her hard work over the past four decades has resulted in stability and standardization in both Bella Bella and Bella Coola. It is not easy working in such rural and remote areas, but Michel has always been a creative problem solver who has come up with great, innovative solutions to support the health of the community. I know that I speak for our entire VCH family and the communities that we serve, that she will be missed!”

Below is Michel’s personal reflection on the delivery of health care in the Bella Coola region over the last five decades.

The Year is 1968

A 52-year-old woman lies on the makeshift bed in the living room, her body racked with pain, so evident on the lines on her face and the dimness in her eyes. There have been months of the pain and a continual struggle to get enough air into her one remaining lung. It has been a tough struggle to survive, but she is doing everything she can to stay alive, one hour, one day and one month longer, she wants to remain with her family as long as she possibly can.

Her 21-year-old-son is doing his best to help with her daily care but it’s harder as each day passes and she becomes sicker. Her youngest, a 13-year-old daughter, struggles with the selfishness of being a new teenager and doing whatever she can for to maker her sick mother more comfortable.

Home visit

Every few weeks a doctor pays a visit and leaves more drugs, non of which are effective at dealing with the awful pain from the spreading cancer. Answers are always the same… no there is nothing stronger we can give… she may become addicted… no you cannot have oxygen in the home… it is not safe. It is always NO.

One dark, wet night it becomes all too much for the family and the doctor is called again. He comes in his station wagon. Alone. The family helps transfer a very sick mother to a stretcher and struggles to manoeuvre the stretcher down the flight of stairs to the waiting station wagon, which is the doctor’s personal vehicle.

Bumpy ride to the hospital

In the dark of the night, the doctor makes the 25-mile ride to the hospital over rough gravel roads with his very sick passenger. The husband and son follow in their vehicle as the doctor will need help to carry the patient upstairs into the two-storey hospital.

The little girl wonders if she’ll see her mother alive again. She’s hopeful she’ll get to visit at the hospital but it will mean getting permission to travel to Bella Coola after school on the school bus and then dealing with hospital rules, which don’t allow visitors after 4 pm. And then how will she get home again?

Dad to the rescue

Her dad talks to the nurse on duty about the visiting rule. She’s reluctant to bend them – rules are rules after all.

Every day she can, the daughter travels to the hospital to be with her mother; her father arriving to take her back home late in the evening. He’s tired as he has to work to keep the family going through this nightmare.

The situation worsens and it’s recommended the mother be sent to Vancouver for more treatment to aleviate the crippling pain. More surgery is also discussed, cutting nerves in the spine. It sounds dreadful and risky but it seems to be the only answer to the horrible pain.

Flight to Vancouver

The airline is contacted, passenger seats are removed to accommodate the stretcher and the mother is bundled into a basket stretcher and transported from the hospital to the tiny air terminal, once again in the doctors station wagon, to be loaded on the regularly scheduled flight to Vancouver along with the other paying passengers.

Her husband is unable to go. He has to work to pay for the seats the stretcher uses on the plane.

The little girl watches the plane leave and wonders if she will ever see her mother alive again.

Eventually the nightmare is over. The Mother dies, alone in the hospital in Bella Coola.

I was that little girl.

Have we made a difference in 40 years?

Fast forward to 2016:

The Bella Coola Valley Health Services has Community Health Workers to help with personal care in the home.
A Home and Community Nurse pays visits to the home.
BC Ambulance is on the ground with fully equipped vehicles and trained personnel to move the sick between home and hospital.
Hospital to Hospital transfers are accomplished swiftly by BC Ambulance jet service.
Patients have access to funds to pay for their travel costs to access healthcare in Vancouver.
Equipment – beds, wheelchairs, bathing aids are available for use in the home to help with homecare.
Pain management, Wound Care Management, Home Oxygen Program – all available in the home.
The Bella Coola General Hospital accommodates families, recognizing the importance of family/friend support to the healing process.
And for the End Stages of Life the hospital provides a spacious comfortable room where family and friends are welcome to remain with their loved one as long as they wish.

“I feel very privileged to have devoted my working life to the Bella Coola General Hospital Health services.

I take this opportunity to thank all the dedicated men and women who deliver the health-related services we’ve come to expect in our community. We’ve come a long way in 48 years. Sometimes it’s important to look back to see the value of today.”