B.C. Interior sees more ER closures over the weekend

B.C’s Interior will see more emergency department (ED) closures this weekend.

Interior Health says in a statement that emergency services at the Dr. Helmcken Memorial Hospital in Clearwater will be closed 6 p.m. on Sept. 3, until 7 a.m. the following morning.

They add emergency services in Ashcroft “will not be available this weekend.”

Since the ED is closed, Interior Health says patients in Clearwater can instead access care at Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops or 100 Mile House District General Hospital.

Kamloops is 125 kilometres away from Clearwater while 100 Mile House is 130 kilometres away.

As well, patients in Ashcroft are told to instead go to Royal Inland Hospital, over 90 kilometres away.

Related links:

• Clearwater ER closed overnight until Sept. 3

• ER closures in B.C. a growing public health risk, advocates say

Last month, Mayor Leonard Casley told CityNews staffing shortages and closures are not new for small towns in B.C.

“To every small ER in the province, they’ve been run on such a shoestring that as soon as one person goes, it puts it in crisis,” he said.

“You know, the capacity was never built into the system. It was actually taken out of the system, over years of cuts, and here we are.”

Meanwhile, the BC Rural Health Network says it’s being overwhelmed with public complaints and reports of serious health impacts resulting from the reduction in services.

“Our membership and the residents of rural B.C. cannot continue to have services taken or diverted to support larger urban populations,” rural health network president Peggy Skelton said.

“B.C. rural communities are continually used as a buffer for staff shortages in larger centres and the negative impact on rural residents’ compounds. Imagine the situation where there is an emergency and the nearest facility is a considerable distance away, sometimes hours away.”

With files from Charlie Carey and Kurtis Doering