Clearwater mayor says residents concerned, frustrated with ER closures

Photo: Contributed

Dr Helmcken Memorial Hospital in Clearwater.

The mayor of Clearwater says persistent closures of Dr. Helmcken Memorial Hospital’s emergency room have left residents concerned and frustrated.

Merlin Blackwell said there have been dozens of temporary emergency room closures due to staffing issues at the Clearwater hospital — up to 23, by his count. So far in July, there have been six 12 to 24 hour-long closures announced by Interior Health.

The emergency room is supposed to be open 24/7.

Blackwell said he’s heard concern from residents and tourists, along with workers on nearby industrial projects — especially as some of the closures happen during the day.

He said during an ER closure this week, multiple people were injured in a car accident that happened in town, which would have sent those needing immediate medical attention to Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops.

“That's a scenario where somebody has gotten off mild here, with probably just a broken leg or an ankle — if you can call that mild. We're playing chicken with a really serious incident like a stroke or heart attack or a serious MVA,” Blackwell said.

Peter Milobar, MLA for Kamloops-North Thompson, said the closures are troubling, particularly as the hospital is located along a highway corridor and the next closest emergency room is over 100 kilometres away.

“On a corridor that's getting busier — especially in the middle of summer right now — we’re seeing accidents that close the highway which means people's access to Kamloops gets cut off for long stretches of time,” Milobar said.

Milobar said the provincial government hasn’t been moving quickly enough to address staffing shortages in Clearwater.

In May, Milobar and Kamloops-South Thompson MLA Todd Stone called for the government to put together a plan for retention and recruitment of healthcare workers, as well as a road map for adding more fully-staffed and resourced operating rooms.

“There doesn't seem to be an urgency from the province, from Interior Health, to get the situation solved,” Milobar said.

Blackwell said Interior Health officials have told him they have a plan to address the closures, and are spending about 40 per cent of their management time trying to come up with solutions for stabilizing Clearwater.

According to Blackwell, IH plans to add another full time nurse position to the hospital’s lineup, resulting in better coverage if the hospital gets back to full staffing capacity. Health authority managers are also planning to embark on “a deep dive” into hospital operations to identify issues and take action.

Blackwell said hearing details of IH’s plan — expected to be in place by September — has given him more confidence.

“They're breaking barriers in the system that have been there for a long time, they are basically making a custom model for Clearwater. I think that's a good thing, I think that's what's necessary,” Blackwell said.

“In the time between then and now to get things up and running, and to get those hires in place, we're probably going to have more closures. But hopefully, they can ramp up the ability to get some temporary staff here to cover as many shifts as possible and stabilize things.”

On Twitter, Blackwell outlined several ideas — his own, and ideas that have come from conversations with healthcare professionals — that could provide long-term solutions.

The ideas include paying for cross-trained x-ray and lab techs in small towns, rethinking the criteria for allowing foreign doctors and nurses to work, and addressing issues around paying doctors.

Blackwell said he wants to see post-secondary schools focus more on training nurses. He said some industry trades training programs bring the first six months of education to rural high schools, and suggested this could apply for healthcare professions as well.

Blackwater said for towns like Clearwater, a tight housing market has been a barrier for bringing in new nurses and doctors, and addressing this would help to stabilize staffing issues.

Blackwell said he’s heard of toxic work environments driving away some healthcare workers, and while he hasn't heard of this happening at Clearwater's hospital, he hopes this is part of Interior Health’s review.

Blackwell said a lot of what the district would typically spend on economic development projects is currently targeted at attracting and retaining medical professionals, even though this should be a provincial responsibility.

He said dealing with healthcare short-staffing issues currently takes up about 50 per cent of his time.

“I obviously care deeply. I'm a long-term cancer survivor, I’ve had cancer four times. …As a mayor, it's so hard because we are constitutionally not supposed to be a level of government that is involved in health care,” Blackwell said.

“We don't budget for it. We don't generally allocate time for it. But we find ourselves as municipal governments having to step deeply into the recruitment and retention part. …That’s supposed to be a role of the provincial government or the health authorities, and it's not being done to the level it needs to be done.”