Wild parsnip (Pastinaca sativa) is an invasive plant that is prevalent throughout the province, including the Mississippi Valley Watershed.

Wild parsnip, also known as poison parsnip, was added to the Noxious Weed List in 2015 and is a member of the carrot/parsley family. It typically grows a low, spindly rosette of leaves in the first year while the root develops. In the second year it flowers on a tall stalk and then dies. Like giant hogweed and other members of the carrot family, it produces sap containing chemicals that can cause human skin to react to sunlight, resulting in intense burns, rashes or blisters. Both the wild and cultivated forms of parsnip contain these toxic compounds, called furanocoumarins, and these do pose hazards to agricultural workers as well as those unwittingly exposed to the wild variety.

If you come into contact with the sap, you should:

• Wash thoroughly with grease-cutting soap and water
• Avoid further exposure of affected skin to UV/sunlight
• If burns occurs (symptoms appear within 48 hours) seek medical consultation
• If there is direct exposure to the eye (cornea), immediately flush with water and seek medical attention

The best way to avoid an unpleasant run in with wild parsnip is to learn how to identify it:

• It grows up to 1.5 metres tall.
• The single green stem is two to five centimetres thick and smooth with few hairs.
• Compound leaves are arranged in pairs, with sharply toothed leaflets that are shaped like a mitten.
• Yellowish green flowers form umbrella-shaped clusters 10 to 20 centimetres across.
• Seeds are flat and round.

If you see wild parsnip on public property, contact the local municipality. If you think you have wild parsnip on your property, call the Invading Species Hotline at 1-800-563-7711, or report your sighting online at. www.eddmaps.org/Ontario. You will be asked to send in photos for identification. DO NOT touch, cut or collect parts of the plant for identification purposes.

Unlike most invasive plants, parsnip (the cultivated variety, as opposed to the wild plant) plays a role in agriculture, and is grown in all Canadian provinces as an annual crop.

Because of its unique chemical make-up, Wild Parsnip is the subject of research for a variety of medical and other uses, including insect repellant, treatment of skin disorders such as psoriasis and its potential anti-fungal, anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory properties.

Wild Parsnip has also shown promise in phytoremediation of soils contaminated by metals. Research has shown that parsnip can absorb cadmium, nickel, lead and manganese.

Harrowsmith's Alice Aiken started her military career in the navy as a ship's navigator in 1984. While in the military she took a degree in Physiotherapy at Dalhousie and served as a physiotherapist until she left the military in 1998. She completed both a Master’s and PhD program at Queen's and then joined the university’s Faculty of Physical Therapy in 2006, a department that she now chairs.

While that aspect of her career is impressive in its own right, it also serves as the basis for her research career.

In 2010, she was approached by former Brigadier General Bill Richard, who was about to retire as board chair of Kingston General Hospital.

“He thought we should do something for the country's veterans and that we should bring academics to the table to have a good look at the health needs of veterans. So, we built this institute and I became the science director,” she said.

The institute is called the Canadian Institute for Military and Veteran Health Research (CIMVHR), and in its first five years it has grown from an idea to being comprised of more than 35 universities (including all major Canadian research universities) and 550 researchers.

What Dr. Aiken and her team were able to do, starting with just the support of Queen's, is put together a database containing health-related information from veterans across Ontario. This database is available to researchers who propose studies to the institute, and the CIMHVR has become a leader in health research among current and former military personnel and their families.

One of the first problems that had to be overcome was to find the health records of veterans in order to study them. Veterans’ Affairs only has records for veterans who have health issues of one kind or another when they leave the military. Other veterans who are discharged are not tracked.

However, when Canadian military personnel are discharged and then approach Service Canada for a health card, they are given one immediately; the three-month waiting period is waived in their case. This practice has created a record that was hidden in the database of the provincial health ministries. It took over a year of work to convince the Ontario Ministry of Health to release this information to the CIMVHR (void of all personal identification) but once that was accomplished, the institute gained valuable information to share with researchers and was able to sponsor an increasingly broad number of research projects.

“Certainly, ever since the Afghanistan war there has been an increased public interest in the health of veterans, and we have been able to sponsor many research projects in a short time to look at these issues,” she said.

CIMVHR has made this research accessible through publications, education opportunities, speaking engagements, media coverage, and an annual forum.

Research projects that have been completed include flight-related neck pain; recovering mobility after brain injuries; resiliency and readiness in military personnel; the impact of adverse childhood experience on mood and anxiety in military personnel; and the list goes on.

“Over the past four years I have been awed by the magnitude and rigor of research already being undertaken, and inspired by the capacity available to pursue new projects. We are eager to learn from the hundreds of CIMVHR researchers we work with across the country, and in turn we are honoured to be given the opportunity to support them as they focus on their work on military personnel, veterans and their families,” said Dr. Aiken in the CIMVHR’s four-year progress report in 2014.

Recently, Dr. Aiken has been honoured twice. In May she was named the Honorary Commander of 33 Canadian Forces Health Services, Kingston, and on July 10, the Honourable Erin O'Toole, Minister of Veterans Affairs, presented her with one of this year's ministry commendations for her contributions to the service of military veterans at a ceremony in Ottawa.

Putting patients first, the South East CCAC (Community Care Access Centre) is seeking a few people who are passionate about improving health care delivery in the community. The CCAC invites patients or their family members who have received services from the South East Community Access Centre during the past three years to participate in a Patient and Family Advisory Council.

“The CCAC defines patient engagement as more fully involving patients and caregivers in program design and service planning,” said David Campbell, Public Engagement Lead for the South East CCAC. “The CCAC currently has methods of gaining patient feedback, but does not have a unified process to use this feedback to make our services more patient-centred. The goal of the Patient and Family Advisory Council is to have a more systematic method of providing patient feedback as well as provide a proactive method of providing patient and caregiver input on programs and services.”

One of the four pillars of the South East CCAC’s 2014-2017 Strategic Plan is to ensure patients and caregivers have confidence and trust in their care. One of the main components of this strategy is to more fully involve patients and caregivers in program design and service planning. The Patient and Family Advisory Council will be a central forum for patient engagement which will reflect the voice of the patient in planning our services and improving our current services from a patient perspective. The Patient and Family Advisory Council will ensure that a patient’s perspective is involved in the CCAC decision-making process.

“The patient advisor is not a patient advocate who advocates for a cause and is focused on one issue entirely from a patient’s perspective,” said Campbell. “Instead, a patient advisor is someone who can use their experience as a patient or caregiver to help offer advice on making services more patient-centred. A patient advisor can see beyond their personal experience to “see the big picture” and offer helpful suggestions to improve services.”

To view the Patient Advisory Council Handbook to discover if this council is right for you, visit www.healthcareathome.ca/southeast. If you would like to have this unique opportunity to have your voice heard at the CCAC, please contact David Campbell, CCAC Patient Engagement Lead at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 613-544-8200, ext. 4042.

TAMI (Talking About Mental Illness) is an organization whose goal is to raise awareness of and to address the myths and stereotypes associated with mental illness and mental health.

Staff of the Kingston chapter are doing just that by including those who have experienced mental illness first hand as speakers at their presentations.

On June 17, the Sharbot Lake Family Health Team (SLFHT) invited TAMI-Kingston to give one such presentation and it included two speakers, Doug and Luciele, who shared their personal stories.

Each spoke about their journey through mental illness, of how they first recognized that they were ill, their struggles as they journeyed through it, the barriers they experienced to getting treatment and their triumphs as they eventually found the right kind of medical help.

Doug spoke first of his experience with schizophrenia. He first became ill when he was practicing law and told of his personal journey, of overcoming the obstacles his illness presented, and finally after finding the right diagnosis and treatment, returning to practice law for 12 years.

Luciele spoke emotionally about her experience with bi-polar disorder, the ups and downs she experienced as a mature student studying psychology at Queen's University and as a mother of five and the painful years of not knowing what was wrong. She spoke candidly and openly of how, at her lowest point she contemplated taking her own life before eventually being properly diagnosed and getting the right treatment. Both likened their diseases to diabetes, an illness that you will always have but that with the right treatment can be successfully managed.

Katrina McDonald, a steering committee member and presentation facilitator with TAMI-Kingston spoke to me about TAMI, a program that originally came out of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto. The program was first geared to high school students, since early signs of mental illness often first present in young adults. The idea was that students, after hearing from people with mental illness, would be able to break down some of the stereotypes and myths associated with it. “Historically we have had this sense that people with mental illness are different or scary or dangerous and that they are not contributing members of society. The idea we want to get across through TAMI is to get real people who have experienced mental illness first hand talking about it, answering people's questions and letting people see that someone with a mental illness is a real person who with the right treatment can become a healthy and contributing member of society.”

McDonald also stressed the idea that mental illness is just like any other illness. “Once it is properly identified and the right treatment is provided, people can continue to live healthy, productive lives.”

Laura Baldwin, program manager at the SLFHT, was pleased with the turnout at the presentation which she said “fostered a rich discussion.”

McDonald said that the more we can reduce the stigma of mental illness by talking about it, the more people will come forward and get the help they need. Any local schools interested in bringing a TAMI presentation to their school can email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

by Lesley Merrigan

The Relay For Life leadership team is hosting a breakfast on Saturday, May 16, at the IOOF hall in Parham. This event will be an opportunity for those Relayers who have been hesitant in registering their team due to the increased registration cost, an opportunity to get their team signed up for $10 each! It is a great way to show your support to our cancer fighters as well. Breakfast is from 8 to 11am and will consist of pancakes and sausage complete with beverages. $7 for adults; $5 for kids; 12 and under. We will also have some live music with an acoustic guitar with a few of the fellows from One Busted Ego.

Our Relay For Life this year will begin at noon on Saturday, June 20, and run until midnight. It is hoped that this change in timing will allow those who have never participated because of the overnight commitment, to come spend 12 hours fighting cancer with an awesome line up of music, some great food and of course, our moving luminary ceremony that will honour cancer survivors as well as those who have lost their battle to cancer. Luminaries will be on sale at the breakfast on Saturday at the cost of $5 each. Any vendor who is interested in having a table of their wares at the relay can come and pick up their information as well. For more information on being a vendor at our June 20 event, please email Lyann Smith at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or Penny Cota at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Survivors can register for the strawberry social and the victory lap on Saturday morning as well. We will have forms at the hall. If you know of someone who has been diagnosed with cancer, you can also take a form for them so that they may attend and be part of the celebration.

So if you are registered for the 2015 Relay for Life, this is an opportunity to come and ask questions, enjoy breakfast and hand in any collected money that you might have. If you are not registered yet, you will be able to sign up your team at a cost of $10 each. A team can be made with as few as 4 or 5 and no maximum. There is also the community team that will allow individuals to register and participate as well. For more information on anything Relay, you can contact Lesley Merrigan at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call her cell at 613-483-1839. Thanks to all in our community for your continued support in making cancer history.

Danielle Aldridge is a lucky woman. She is 34 years old, a Kingston native, has two healthy boys and a loving husband, a supportive family and good employment prospects.

The only problem is that she can't enjoy any of it, or very little of it at the most.

The reason is that she spends 22 hours a day in bed, in pain, because of severe spinal disability. When she was 14 she had successful surgery to deal with scoliosis, a sideways curvature of the spine. The surgery involved inserting pins to keep her spine straight.

Until two years ago, Danielle was able to function normally. Her sister Victoria, who lives in Mountain Grove and is on maternity leave from a job with Central Frontenac Township, said that she used to call her sister Quasimodo because she held her neck at an off-centre angle, sometimes as the result of her condition.

Two years ago, what had been a manageable condition took a serious turn for the worse.

“She told me that she felt something change, but could not pin-point what had happened,” Victoria said of her sister's condition at the time.

What followed was an MRI, and then another, and consultations with doctors across Canada and the United States, all while her condition, and her quality of life, was deteriorating.

“The bottom line,” said Victoria, “is that no doctor in Canada will take her on and no surgery is offered for her under OHIP. She has done tons and tons of research, and there are options in the United States for her, but they are not ideal, and the cost is about $300,000.”

Then Danielle found out about the Clinique du Parc in Montpelier, France, which is run by Dr. Thierry Marnay, a pioneering surgeon who has developed a technique for implanting prosthetic discs.

When she contacted Dr. Marnay, Danielle offered to send him all of the scans that had been done of her spine, and all of the mountains of data that had been collected about her condition, but he insisted that she come to see him. So, in late October, she travelled to Montpellier with her husband.

“He said that he had to see her, he had to examine her himself and he had to talk to her. She went and after undergoing x-rays and an MRI, all in one day, Dr. Marnay sat with her and said he could do an operation that would get her back on her feet,” said Victoria.

The operation, which is set for May 28, will cost $90,000. There are other costs on top, for flights and for Danielle to remain at the hospital for a month and in Montpelier for at least another month, but the family has started a fundraising campaign to raise the $90,000.

With a publicity campaign this week through the Kingston media, over $17,000 has been raised thus far, and the campaign has a digital home in the website Withalittlehelp.ca.

On the site, which has a donation button for those who are inclined, Danielle explains what her life has become.

“It's hard to explain to people how my pain feels and how things become impossible to achieve. My goal is to not only look like life is amazing in pictures but to once again live a life that is amazing. To me amazing was experiencing the little moments like bath time, story time, the goal my son Ryan scored in a hockey game or the dance my son Michael did to his new favourite song. Now, many times I just hear about them from my husband Jake as I lay in my bed. I smile because I am so happy, but I am also so sad. I can't wait until I can get up and live my life again.”

Jake Aldridge said that the family will find the money to fund the operation one way or another, even if it means selling their house and also going into debt, a point of view that is shared by Danielle's sister Victoria.

“If we can't find the money by fundraising, we will do whatever we need to do, even if it means paying over a long time, but a friend of mine said that sometimes if you ask for help people are happy to help, and when I see that we have raised thousands of dollars this week I see that is true.'

For further information go to Withalittlehelp.ca or contact Victoria Hawley at 613-483-8678

Anyone walking in to the waiting room at the Lakelands Family Health Team in Northbrook last Wednesday, April 1, might have thought someone had served some bad tuna at a joint Council meeting.

Four members from each of the Addington Highlands and North Frontenac Councils were sitting or standing, waiting to be called into the clinic. However, none of them seemed particularly under the weather; they were only waiting to spend some money and secure another physician for five years.

Each of the townships has committed $15,000 per year for five years to help pay the medical school expenses of Dr. Matt Dumas, who in turn has committed to remaining at the Family Health Team (FHT) for at least that length of time.

This is the second time that a physician has been encouraged to practice at Lakelands in this manner. In July of 2012, Dr. Anne Wilson began accepting patients in Northbrook to fulfill a similar five-year commitment, which runs until July of 2017.

There are currently five doctors affiliated with Lakelands, including Doctor Tobia, who started the practice decades ago, Dr. Peter Tam, and the venerable Dr. Alan Elliott, who works two days a week.

Lakelands Family Health Team is part of the North Kingston Family Health Organization and Dr. Dumas heard about the Northbrook clinic when he was working on a short term contract at the Sharbot Lake Family Health Team in 2014, after graduating from Queen's Medical School earlier in the year.

What Matt Dumas found, when he visited Northbrook, was a location that seemed somewhat familiar to him.

“The land around here is pretty similar to where I grew up, near North Bay.

Matt Dumas lived in North Bay for most of his youth. He is a member of the Dokis First Nation, and he spent some of his summers on the French River, which runs between Lake Nipppising and North Bay, staying with family on the Dokis Reserve.

“The landscape there is very similar to what I find in this area, lots of lakes and swamps, a Canadian Shield wilderness area,” he said.

He is entering into this agreement with the Lakelands FHT with some experience, as he has been working for them on contract since late in 2014.

“The staff and the other doctors here have been more than welcoming, and there is a lot of knowledge in this community that helps me as I pursue a career in Family Medicine, which is what I really enjoy.”

In addition to providing service in Northbrook and one day a week at the Denbigh satellite clinic, Dr. Dumas is also maintaining ties in Kingston by teaching a course with the Department of Family Medicine at Queen's, where he is an associate professor.

According to Janice Powell, the executive director of Lakelands, Dr. Dumas has been well received by the patients he has been serving over the last few months.

“He is good at listening carefully to what patients say,” she said. “One patient in Denbigh came up to me as they were leaving the clinic one day, and said 'you have a good one there, you'd better not let him go.' And now we don't have to, thanks to the townships.”

The townships of North Frontenac and Addington Highlands have been involved in medical services for a number of years. The townships began looking at putting money aside for doctor recruitment 10 years ago, and when Doctor Tobia was considering turning his practice into a Family Health Team, which came to fruition in 2010, the townships were involved in the transition. Addington Highlands now owns the building in Northbrook where the Lakelands headquaters is, and rents space to the FHT in is Denbigh Community Centre.

The townships have continued to put money aside for recruitment over the years. With this latest investment, each of them will have spent $150,000 on direct recruitment.

Over 200 registered nurses, nurse practitioners, social workers, speech therapists, occupational therapists, physiotherapists and others who provide patient intake and assessment services for the Community Care Access Centre (CCAC) of Southeast Ontario have returned to work after a 16-day strike.

The breakthrough came at the negotiation table on Saturday, February 14, when negotiators for nine different CCACs met in Toronto with negotiators from the Ontario Nurses' Association and a mediator from the Ontario Ministry of Labour.

The parties agreed to refer the key issue in the dispute, which was wages, to 'final offer' arbitration. The abitrator, William Caplan, will hear from the parties no later than March 5, and will accept one of the offers by the end of March.

The two parties are seemingly not that far off in their proposals, and the ONA had requested arbitration before they went on strike, but management was not willing at that time.

The wage request from the ONA is a 1.4% increase in each year of a two-year agreement. The CCAC proposal is a 1.4% lump sum payment in the first year, and a 1.4% increase in year two. This was rejected by the ONA because even though it looks like the same offer, it translates into less money in year 2, which also means their members will be at a lower starting point when they begin to negotiate their new contract.

For example, if an ONA member earns $70,000 in 2014, they would then receive the same pay plus a $980 payment in 2015. In 2016, their pay would be $70,980. If they receive a 1.4% increase each year, they will earn $71,974 in 2016, which would be the base pay for negotiating a subsequent contract.

“We are very pleased that we will be able to resume our full range of care to patients,” says Megan Allen-Lamb, provincial CCAC spokesperson, and CEO of North Simcoe Muskoka CCAC. “We thank our patients, and health care partners in the home, community, long-term care and hospital sectors for their patience and support through this time. We look forward to having our employees return to CCACs to resume their important work in providing care to patients.”

The president of the Southeast ONA bargaining unit, Lisa Turner, was happy to be going back to work.

"We are very pleased that the government did step in to intervene and assist us in getting back to work so we can go back to our passion, which is caring for our clients," she told the Whig Standard earlier this week.

Members of the Provincial ONA executive were less forgiving.

“During this strike, there has been a colossal waste of health care dollars as the employer spent taxpayers’ money foolishly on catered meals for management, overtime, strike-breaking security firms and high-priced lawyers, and who knows what else – with complete disregard for the public purse,” said Ontario Nurses’ Association (ONA) President Linda Haslam-Stroud, RN, in a media release.

Noting that arbitration was proposed by the ONA before they took strike action, ONA Vice President Vicki McCenna, RN, told the News that, “We were trying to avoid strike because CCAC work is essential to Ontarians, but the employers had refused and that is why we ended up on strike for over two weeks.

McCenna also pointed out that the CCACs have received a 5% increase in provincial funding this year and their management personnel have received wage increases in the 10% range.

“All that makes this whole situation difficult for our members to swallow. They are working harder and harder each year and there is no respect from the CCAC management."

It is 2:00 in the morning. Your child has a fever and the fever has spiked. You give the child some medication to control the fever but you are in a quandary. Should you sit with your child and see if the fever drops? Should you drive to the emergency department? Should you call 911 for an ambulance?

These kinds of dilemmas occur in all kinds of families; those with young children, elderly relatives, or a member who is chronically ill. It occurs for people who live alone or who are caring for a spouse or a parent.

The Rural Kingston Health Link is holding three public information sessions to talk about what options people have when they are in need of medical help and don't know where to turn.

Dr. Ken Edwards from the Emergency Department at Kingston General Hospital, Gale Chevalier from Frontenac Paramedic Services, and the staff of the Verona Medical Centre will be on hand at Trinity United Church in Verona next Tuesday, February 24, from 7 until 9 pm to talk about what is available and to listen to public concerns.

One of the concerns among those who provide emergency care is that over 50% of emergency room visits would be better dealt with through other means.

“There is a difference between urgent care and emergency care,” said Lynn Wilson, of the Rural Kingston Health Link.

This distinction has implications both in terms of costs for the emergency departments and land ambulance, and for patients, who might find themselves spending a sleepless night in the waiting room at KGH when they would be better off at home.

One example of an alternative to emergency room visits is the option to contact a doctor over the phone. By calling their local family health teams or family practice in Sydenham, Sharbot Lake, Northbrook or Tamworth after hours, patients from those clinics will be referred to Tele-Health Ontario, and through Tele-Health they can access an on-call doctor from one of the local clinics. Patients of the Verona clinic are directly referred to the on-call doctor.

Even if that doctor is not from their own clinic, the doctor will still have access to the patient's medical file, and can offer advice tailored to the patient's medical history.

All of the clinics also have extended-hour clinics throughout the week, during which time they accept patients from any of the other clinics in the region.

Frontenac Paramedic Services is developing a community paramedicine program, to make better use of the skills of paramedics in between emergency calls, and to help reduce unnecessary visits to the emergency room. They will be using the meetings to help them tailor their programs to local needs, and to help them avoid duplicating services that are offered by other providers.

For those who cannot attend the meeting in Verona on the 24th, similar meetings are scheduled for Sydenham on March 10 and Sharbot Lake on March 24.

The public meetings are meant to foster a two-way conversation. Those attending will be encouraged to share their own experiences and their ideas for how they could be better served.

For more information see the ad on page 2.

The strike by 230 care co-ordinators who work for the Southeast Community Care Access Centre (CCAC), which covers Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington, Leeds Grenville, Lanark and Hastings Counties, is already having an impact on patient care, says Lisa Turner, the president of the Ontario Nurses’ Association branch that represents the workers.

The strike began last Friday, Feb. 6, at the same time as similar workers in nine of the 10 regional CCACs in Ontario rejected offers from management.

According to Turner, workers are seeking a 1.4% increase each year, but management is offering a lump sum payment in lieu of an increase in year one, and 1.4% in year two.

“Our demands are very reasonable; they are less than other bargaining units, and by offering a lump sum payment they are not moving the pay grid forward, which is not acceptable. We have had our wages frozen for two years before this,” said Turner, who also said that no further negotiations have been initiated by management since the strike began.

Turner said that claims by the CCAC that management personnel are able to handle intake and changes in care plans are not believable.

“They do not have the staff available,” she said, when contacted at a mass rally of striking workers, which was held at Kingston General Hospital on Tuesday (February 10).

Striking workers include registered nurses, nurse practitioners, physiotherapists, occupational therapists and social workers. Services offered by the CCAC are designed to help people stay in the home longer or leave hospital sooner.

Ongoing CCAC service is not affected by the strike; it is only those seeking new service or a change in the service that is offered by the CCAC that are affected.

According to Gary Buffett of the Communications office of the Southeast CCAC, about 20 management personnel, who are trained health care professionals, are handling the work load during the strike.

“I would not say it is business as usual,” said Buffett, “but we are keeping our head above water.”

The focus for the CCAC has been to deal with people leaving hospital and needing service after their release.

Home visits by care co-ordinators, such as those provided by the co-ordinator normally based in Northbrook, are not taking place except in rare cases, Buffett said.

“We are doing assessments over the phone right now in most cases and extending service that way,” he said.

“Nobody is working out of KGH, where 20 people are normally based,” said Lisa Turner., “there is no way they can keep up with the volume. There is a whole swath of people that are not getting access to care. We need to get the word out there that the most vulnerable patients are losing access to care.”

The negotiations between the CCAC and nine out of 10 Ontario Nursing Association bargaining units are being handled out of Toronto even though each CCAC has a contract with their own workers. The issue separating the parties is money, and it is unclear how far apart the two parties actually are in terms of money.

Both sides also claim that they are willing to re-enter negotiations and the other is refusing.

What is clear, at least from the statements by both Lisa Turner and CCAC spokesperson Gary Buffett, is that both sides recognise the strike is stressing the system.

According to Gary Buffett, the stress to the system is not compromising patient care.

“We are providing the referrals and we will clean up the mess later,” he said.

Lisa Turner, however, said that patient care is already being impacted.