The emergency department at Nicola Valley Hospital has been closed 11 times in 2023, according to Merritt Mayor Michael Goetz.
“Some are 13 hours, some are 17 hours, some are three days … these are problems for us,” Goetz told Global News.
“We expect these services to be here for not only our community but for the people that travel through.
“We are at the hub for the Coquihalla and we have about 80,000 vehicles per day (pass through Merritt). ”
The latest closure was overnight between Wednesday and Thursday for 13 hours.
Goetz said not only do they have a ton of travellers passing through their community, who may need emergency medical services, but the area also holds a number of events that swell the population in the summer on a weekly basis.
“I am also concerned that we have a lot of events here … we have two this week. We are going to have an extra 3,000 people in town,” he said.
“These are things that keep me up at night.”
The mayor went on to point to a specific situation that sums up how thinly stretched resources are in the region in terms of staffing and how closures are easily reached.
He said a major crash in Revelstoke diverted the one nurse they needed to keep the emergency department open in Merritt.
“We had a nursing shortage (in Merritt). They were able to tap a nurse on the shoulder from the Okanagan to come to (Merritt) to fill in the shortage we had. On the way here, a crash in Revelstoke happened and the nurse was then diverted,” he said.
“It only goes to show what razor-thin edge we walk every single day with such a broken system that one nurse in a car decides if hospitals stay open or closed.”
Goetz is calling on the province to address their medical services issues in the region.
“This is where the premier needs to be the boss and do a work evaluation with the Ministry of Health,” he said.
“We don’t have a plan. We have nothing and that is frustrating.”
Global News reached out to Interior Health for comment regarding the mayor’s concerns.
“Unfortunately, when a staff member is not available due to illness or other unforeseen circumstances, it may be difficult to fill that shift on short notice. However, Interior Health endeavours to fill every single shift and only closes service as a last possible resort,” an Interior Health spokesperson said in an email.
“One option for filling these shifts is using our High Acuity Response Team. These are critical care nurses who provide care to rural sites to support care and transport of patients. In this case, the team had been scheduled to cover the short notice vacancy and unfortunately, the HART team was pulled away to a high-priority call.”
Global News has reached out to the premier for comment.
“This recent closure, first one we’ve seen in the last three months, is an indication of just how thin we are on the ground in terms of the people who run our health care system,” he said.
“This is why we are putting in so much effort to get internationally trained nurses and doctors accredited to work in the province. For the long term, our new medical school moving full speed ahead. It’s an urgent situation, not just in B.C. but across Canada. Our province is going all out to get (professionals) in our hospitals as quickly as we can.”
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