This story is part of Situation Critical, a series from CBC British Columbia reporting on the barriers people in this province face in accessing timely and appropriate health care.
Dr. Kara Perdue is a family and emergency physician in Clearwater, B.C., the site of the province’s most frequent emergency room closures.
The town’s Dr. Helmcken Memorial Hospital features a four-bed emergency room, trauma bay, and a six-bed acute inpatient care unit. It’s supposed to have eight full-time registered nurses on staff, each working four shifts per week, but the hospital currently only has four.
