Dr. Helmcken Memorial Hospital in Clearwater has experienced closures of its emergency room (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By Chad Klassen

EMERGENCY ROOM CLOSURES

‘I don’t think we’re going to stop seeing closures for a while’: Clearwater mayor

Jul 20, 2022 | 10:35 AM

KAMLOOPS — Emergency room closures at Dr. Helmcken Memorial Hospital in Clearwater are becoming somewhat of a norm.

There was another closure Monday night into Tuesday, and the community’s mayor is bracing for more hiccups as staff shortages affect the community.

“Yeah, I don’t think we’re going to stop seeing closures for a while,” Mayor Merlin Blackwell told CFJC Today.

The most concerning aspect of the closures is a lack of communication from Interior Health. Blackwell wasn’t even notified of Saturday evening’s emergency closure.

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“Not being informed about Saturday and then hearing late on Sunday was obviously an issue. The greater issue for me personally, and for the community, is the ambulance service wasn’t informed on the Saturday night closure and had a patient diversion that they had to make a quick change on really quickly,” said Blackwell.

Interior Health President & CEO Susan Brown responded, “There was a last-minute situation that made us further that closure and there was a delay in getting the public-service announcement out, which is not okay, so we will be reviewing our processes to ensure that doesn’t happen again.”

B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix says the province is supporting nurses to receive their emergency room specialty training quicker.

“That’s important to increase the pool of experienced nurses,” said Dix. “We’re taking steps, and hopefully shortly, to assist with housing in Clearwater, which is a significant problem. Anyone in the community knows the availability of housing for staff, who might even come on a temporary basis, is not there.”

Meanwhile in Ashcroft, closures of its emergency room is nothing new. It’s been a problem that’s persisted for a decade and beyond with a lack of doctors. However, with the emergency room closed and no ambulance service all last weekend, a resident died from a heart attack.

The mayor is renewing calls for better healthcare services, but the good news is Barbara Roden says an urgent primary care centre is scheduled to open in the fall.

“One of the big concerns is when you’re attached the Ashcroft medical clinic, you are attached to a physician, so you’re attached to Dr. Smith. When Dr. Smith leaves the community, you have the choice of either following them where they go, which is not practical, or you sign on with another one of the doctors while the remaining doctors are full,” said Ashcroft mayor Barb Roden.

“Under the UPPC (Urgent Primary Care) model, you would be attached to the clinic, not a physician. So when you heard that Dr. Smith is going, you would not have that concern about ‘I’m losing my doctor.’ And that is a huge issue for people in rural communities, you tend to have a larger senior population.”

Blackwell has thrown out the idea of splitting Interior Health into two areas to help with recruitment and retention, but says the Clearwater emergency situation is getting a little more attention recently.

“My understanding is there are ongoing meetings ongoing locally at the hospital with Interior Health executives who are looking at changes to the operation model of Dr. Helmcken — shifting schedules, listening to the concerns of the staff there and having those in-depth meetings to try to find a way forward so we can get stabilized here.”