Dozens attended a rally in Fort Nelson, B.C., on Monday, as northeast B.C. grapples with a series of emergency room closures this summer. (Submitted by Dan Davies)
Bridget Stringer-Holden · CBC News · Posted: Jul 29, 2024
Health minister says the province is hiring health-care workers at unprecedented rates, working with MLAs
Protesters in northeastern B.C. this week are calling on the province to stop persistent ER closures, something that the health minister says is a big priority for his government.
Earlier this month, Fort St. John Hospital was closed for five nights in one week. It is the largest city in northeast B.C. and has 28,000 residents.
Northern Health confirmed that from July 22 to July 28, there was at least one emergency department service interruption per day in the northern half of the province. That equates to 15 service interruptions, where patients were forced to go elsewhere to receive emergency care.
The spate of interruptions at hospitals in northern B.C. has left residents with very few options, according to local politicians.
“People up here are afraid when [there are] no emergency services available in such a large area,” said Peace River North MLA Dan Davies from the B.C. United party.
“[Fort Nelson is] four hours away from the nearest hospital. Rural residents deserve better, and we’ve seen a deterioration of services to our communities across British Columbia.”
He said that constituents reached out expressing their concerns, and that is why Davies is attending two rallies — happening in Fort Nelson on Monday and in Fort St. John on Tuesday — as another way to raise awareness about the issue.
- Lack of notice for ER closures frustrates northern B.C. residents
- Emergency rooms in rural B.C. were closed for equivalent of around 4 months in 2022, data shows
“Almost at any given day, it’s either us here in Fort St. John or Fort Nelson, Dawson Creek, Chetwynd, Tumbler Ridge — one of those hospitals are almost always on diversion right now,” Davies said. “I’ve lived up here my whole life and I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Davies said he’s contacted Health Minister Adrian Dix but has received no response, other than that things are fine, which Davies asserts is not the case. He hopes the rallies will change this.
Dix cites hiring spree
In a scrum on Monday, Dix said that he’s worked with MLAs from all political parties and has collaborated with communities on this issue, which he described as a “real challenge for us.”
“This issue is every day for me,” he said, adding that the province is doing everything possible to deal with the situation.
He said five closures is five too many and Fort St. John is a priority for the Ministry of Health.
“We’ve broken records in terms of hiring nurses and doctors this past year,” he said, adding that recruitment is at the core of the province’s efforts to help the ER shortages and that it has added 620 seats to nursing training programs across the province in an effort to help alleviate strain on hospitals.
He went on to talk about locum programs for rural communities and various alternative payment methods that are being used to help staff emergency rooms.
However, according to Interior Health, the month of July has seen 28 service interruptions — 10 of which were at Cariboo Memorial Hospital in Williams Lake, including one last week.
The Nicola Valley Hospital in Merritt was also closed on Monday, and Mayor Mike Goetz said its ER has been closed 24 times in 2023 and 2024 — with costs being borne by the municipality each time. In response, he sent the province a bill for over $100,000.
- Merritt, B.C., mayor says he’ll bill province over ER closures
- Merritt, B.C., mayor bills province $103,831.87 for ER closures
“Pointing fingers is not going to solve the issue, but we have to look at what’s working and what’s not,” said Fort St. John Mayor Lilia Hansen.
