Family doctors have been in short supply, but some residents living north of town have been receiving care from a nurse practitioner working at the Tla’amin Community Health Centre.
David Marceniuk moved to Powell River two years ago when he took a job as the nurse practitioner at the Tla’amin Community Health Centre.
“I didn’t know anything about Powell River until I saw the job posting,” said Marceniuk, who is originally from Edmonton. “This is my first job as nurse practitioner. It’s my first job out of school, but I did a lot of training with first nations communities around BC.”
Marceniuk said he is enjoying Powell River and working with a first nations community that isn’t as remote as many others in the province.
Even though nurse practitioners have been part of health-care systems in countries around the world for nearly 50 years, the College of Registered Nurses of BC said nurse practitioners were first regulated in BC in 2005.
“Registered nurses basically go back to school after getting experience and get a masters degree as a nurse practitioner,” said Marceniuk. “We provide a lot of the same services as a physician. We can diagnose illnesses and prescribe most prescriptions that you need, order lab tests and send off referrals.”
In BC, regulated nurse practitioners can fill prescriptions for all medications except opioid painkillers and benzodiazapene-based tranquilizers and sleeping pills.
Even though nurse practitioners are not physicians, Marceniuk said many medical journals have compared the two professions and said they provide comparable service when a nurse practitioner is the primary care provider.
Marceniuk said his position is provincially funded through the Ministry of Health.
“Vancouver Coastal Health [VCH] administers my funding and pays for my benefits, but they don’t have any money for overhead, so Tla’amin pays the overhead,” he said.
Marceniuk has room over and above taking care of the people of Tla’amin, and he said he will take anyone who doesn’t have a primary care provider.
While Marceniuk said the additional patients he sees are supposed to be from north of town, including Lund, he has also started seeing patients who live in City of Powell River.
“The nurse practitioner has always been available to see non-aboriginal people at this health centre,” said Tiffany Akins, VCH communications leader. “This is a strong indicator of a great partnership between [Tla’amin] and Vancouver Coastal Health.”
Akins said having nurse practitioners available to a community is an important option for residents who don’t have a regular family doctor. She said it also reduces the reliance on the emergency department at the hospital.
Even though Marceniuk works with emergency-room doctors and walk-in clinics to provide care for complex patients who may need to be seen on a regular basis, residents who want to book a regular appointment with him can call the Tla’amin Community Health Centre.
In addition to Marceniuk’s services, Powell River has a second nurse practitioner, Erin Berukoff, who works at various locations, including Family Tree Health Clinic at 7019 Alberni Street.
To book an appointment with Marceniuk, call the Tla’amin centre at 604.483.3009. Appointments with Berukoff can be made by calling Family Tree at 604.485.9213.
