Merritt, B.C. residents are voicing their frustrations, as they deal with yet another emergency room closure Sunday.
This is the eighth since the beginning of the year and local residents are calling on the government to do more.
A number of concerned Merritt residents rallied outside the Nicola Valley Hospital.
“We want IHA to know that we are not going away. We are going to get louder and louder and more and more organized,” said community advocate Georgia Clement.
For 12 hours Sunday, the doors of this emergency room remained closed due to limited nursing availability.
“We need open and this is just the first of many. They kind of caught us by surprise this morning,” Clement said.
According to Clement, aside from the recent closures the rally was also in support of Dr. Robert Granger.
Granger who lives in Merritt but works for Fraser Health as a surgeon offered his services to Interior Health to help prevent some of these closures. However, he doesn’t meet the requirements.
“He is supremely trained, especially in trauma, which we get a lot of from the Coquihalla highway and he was denied,” said Dr. Robert Holmes.
Many would like to see him employed at the hospital to alleviate the staffing shortages.
“I very much support Dr. Granger who I have worked with in the past as an operating room nurse and his skills are exemplary,” said Lolann Manten.
Meanwhile, without the emergency room open, residents are forced to travel up to an hour for treatment at the nearest centre which is located in Kamloops.
“Somebody’s going to get in a catastrophe situation and we’re not going to have any way to help them. It’s not just us, it’s people travelling on the highway. It’s everybody,” said Clement.
She is calling on the government to take immediate action, to hopefully prevent any further closures.
“We don’t care what they do. We need it open, no more closures,” she said.
Just over a week ago, Interior Health confirmed to Global News that recruitment is underway.
“We understand how important rural health care services are to people who live in communities such as Merritt and can confirm that active recruitment is underway for medical staff at Nicola Valley Hospital,” read the statement.