Five Interior B.C. emergency rooms close over long weekend

Over the long weekend, emergency rooms at five hospitals in Interior B.C. were closed, including a continued closure at Merritt’s Nicola Valley Hospital.

Due to staffing shortages, the ERs at Williams Lake, 100 Mile House, Lillooet, Oliver, and Merritt were closed, as reported by Interior Health. While the Nicola Valley ER is scheduled to reopen on Monday at 8 a.m., the other ERs have since resumed operations. The closures occurred on either Friday or Saturday night, with the 100 Mile District General Hospital being closed on both days.

Paul Adams, executive director of B.C. Rural Health Network, a healthcare advocacy organization, commented, “A very high percentage of rural and remote emergency departments are basically being kept open by the willingness of a staff member to do additional on-call work.”

He added, “Everybody in the entire system is working hard to keep doors open and they do everything they can.” However, Adams also highlighted that the repeated short-term closures of rural ERs indicate a malfunctioning system.

“The real challenge … is that we haven’t built support systems within communities that take us out of this continual whack-a-mole-style management,” Adams said.

The closures in Williams Lake and 100 Mile House left Cariboo-Chilcotin without any open emergency rooms, prompting B.C. Conservative MLA Lorne Doerkson to call for an independent review of Interior Health on X.

“The Labour Day ER closures marked the second weekend in a row that ERs were closed in Lillooet, Oliver, and Merritt,” Adams noted.

He pointed out that while staffing issues in the Interior are severe, they are not unique, citing recent ER closures in Prince Rupert, Bella Coola, and Haida Gwaii.

“It’s happening right across the North,” Adams said.

The previous weekend, Lillooet Hospital’s ER was closed for two days, and between Friday and Sunday evening, ERs in Mission, Oliver, Merritt, Kitimat, Mackenzie, Burns Lake, and Dawson Creek were also closed.

In August alone, Interior Health issued at least 30 notices of temporary ER closures, according to Postmedia.

The Ministry of Health stated, “We are in the midst of a challenging summer and peak holiday season. Our site and health authority staff are working hard to fill shifts every day, and we will continue to fight to keep (emergency departments) open.”

The Ministry also mentioned, “There are major provincial efforts underway and numerous community-specific initiatives to address these circumstances. We understand that when (emergency departments) close, it is a serious issue for people and it undermines their confidence in their community.”

Adams suggested that the province needs to rethink its approach to rural healthcare, noting that while creating more physicians and nurses is not feasible overnight, enhancing the labor pool to provide some level of service might help keep emergency rooms operational.

For life-threatening emergencies, such as chest pain, difficulty breathing, or severe bleeding, residents should always call 911 to be transported to the nearest available and appropriate facility. For non-emergency health inquiries, HealthLink B.C. can be reached at 8-1-1, or visit www.healthlinkbc.ca for 24/7 information from nurses, dietitians, and pharmacists.