Purpose-built housing is being proposed in Oliver, B.C., to help address critical staffing shortages that continue to force frequent closures of the emergency room at South Okanagan General Hospital.
“For sure something that keeps me up at night,” said Oliver mayor Martin Johansen.
According to Johansen, the ER has been closed at least 40 times since January.
“This is being taken very seriously,” Johansen said.
The small community is not alone as ERs across the province experience critical staff shortages forcing the closures.
“We have a lot of people that are unattached…So the hospital ER doubles as kind of a walk in clinic,” Johansen said. “And then, of course, you’ve got your emergencies where people are having life threatening events and they need to go somewhere quickly.”
For residents in Oliver, it means a 40-minute drive to Penticton, even longer for people living in places like Osoyoos.
“It’s quite a concern right now, yeah,” said Oliver resident Leo Degenhardt when asked about the ER closures.
“It’s an inconvenience for everybody and it’s very concerning,” said Carmella Peacock, another Oliver resident.
The community’s mayor is pushing forward with a plan that would see the construction of a multi-unit building on a parcel of land a couple of blocks away from the hospital.
The land, at the corner of Eastside Avenue and Park Drive, is owned by Interior Health and, according to Johansen, has been sitting vacant for more than 40 years.
“I think it would have a huge impact on recruitment,” he told Global News. “Having somebody be able to come into your community and not have to worry about trying to get a hotel room and how long they can book that room…here is a unit you can stay in as long as you are working in the hospital.”
The proposed housing would be dedicated to medical professionals to eliminate the challenge in finding housing, especially during the warmer months when tourists flock to the area.
“We have a local physician recruitment working group, and we have a number of physicians on that working group, and housing is the one thing that’s resonating with everybody,” Johansen said.
“This is a real challenge, whether it’s a physician, whether it’s a traveling nurse, a locum or anybody else that’s coming to support our health care in the south Okanagan here, that’s a barrier.”
In an email to Global News, IH stated it is pleased to see the Town of Oliver moving this project forward, adding that at this time, it does not have any additional updates.
“This is definitely something that could be a game changer and something that’s really going to help stabilize healthcare in our community,” said Johansen.