The mayor of the District of Elkford, B.C., is calling out the provincial government and his health authority over the the “temporary” closure of the community’s emergency room, which has now stretched on for more than a year.
The medical clinic in the East Kootenay community, located about two hours northeast of Cranbrook, remains open, but Mayor Steve Fairbarn told Global News the emergency department has been shuttered since the end of September, 2021.
“It’s very, very, very frustrating. I get, without exaggeration, daily questions from citizens. Nobody’s happy about it, people are worried about what’s going to happen to them, people who have medical issues now, they’re scared,” he said.
“If someone has an emergency in Elkford, currently the nearest emergency department that’s open is in Sparwood, which is depending on the weather and road conditions 20 minutes to a half an hour away. Their emergency department is open until 7 p.m., so if you have an emergency past seven, the nearest facility is Fernie, and that’s an hour away.”
The small community is home to many working in the coal mining industry, and census data shows its population grew by about 10 per cent to about 2,750 between 2016 and 2021.
Fairbarn said more people now live in the community than at any time in the past 30 years.
“We know we’re not the only people in the province suffering from this, but it’s a big problem for us,” he said.
In fact, Elkford is one of more than a dozen rural or remote communities in the B.C. Interior, North and Vancouver Island that have seen intermittent emergency department closures or diversions over the past few years.
The community of Clearwater has seen dozens of overnight closures in the last year, some lasting weeks, as it struggles to recruit and retain staff.
“What we need to do is work through these problems including in Elkford, and we have been doing strong recruitment for Elkford and we’re going to continue to do that,” B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix told Global News Thursday.
Interior Health says it plans to hire four doctors to fill two full time positions in Elkford by July.
But it could take another year to restore the community’s emergency services.