Maple Ridge Mayor Dan Ruimy is calling the diversion of expectant mothers from the Ridge Meadows Hospital maternity ward “unacceptable.”
The mayor says the province has to keep up to the demand for services in one of the country’s fastest-growing cities.
On Dec. 6, the Fraser Health Authority gave a public service announcement for expectant families.
Because of a temporary shortage of obstetrician-gynecologist physicians at Ridge Meadows Hospital on select dates over the holiday season, women in labour who had planned to give birth there may be guided to another maternity site. Peace Arch Hospital in White Rock is in the same situation.
Patients who are registered to deliver their babies at Ridge Meadows or Peace Arch Hospitals have been contacted by their care provider, so they know what to expect.
READ ALSO: Maternity patients may be diverted from Ridge Meadows Hospital
“We are a rapidly growing city with many young families who deserve dependable local care during pregnancy, delivery, and postpartum,” said Ruimy in a letter. “Asking expectant parents to travel to other communities – often on short notice and at unpredictable hours – adds risk, stress, and cost at one of the most critical moments in a family’s life. This has happened before. It cannot become our new normal.”
He called healthcare “critical infrastructure,” like roads and water systems, and said service interruptions reduce confident.
“I recently met with the Minister of Health to convey our city’s deep concern and to advocate for immediate and sustained provincial investment in our local hospital and community-based healthcare, especially obstetrics, emergency coverage, mental health, and substance-use supports,” he said. “I am also sharing these concerns with the new CEO of Fraser Health Authority.
“Our message is clear: Maple Ridge needs a funded, reliable plan that stabilizes staffing, restores maternity services, and strengthens the full continuum of care close to home.”
He said the city is being urged by the province to build more units to address the housing crisis, but the province must ensure health services keep pace.
He said the city is calling on the province and Fraser Health to:
• Restore and protect local maternity services, with a concrete staffing plan.
• Increase operating and capital funding at Ridge Meadows Hospital to meet current demand and projected growth, including emergency, obstetrics, diagnostics, and primary care integration.
• Expand community mental-health and substance-use services, with dedicated funding for stabilization, treatment, and step-down supports to reduce hospital pressure.
• Align health-service expansion with rapid housing targets, so growth is matched by the essential services families rely on.
“Maple Ridge residents have done their part: supporting community safety, embracing new housing, and contributing through local taxes to the amenities that make our city livable,” said the mayor. “It is time for the province to do its part by fully funding the healthcare services our growing city requires.”