Critics warn of rural well being care ‘collapse’ as ERs briefly shut on North Island

Again-to-back closures of emergency rooms on North Vancouver Island final weekend are one other instance of the general erosion of the first care system in rural communities, say the BC Inexperienced Occasion and the BC Nurses’ Union.

As a consequence of ongoing staffing shortages, the emergency room at Port Hardy Hospital was briefly closed from 9 am to 7 pm on Sunday. At Port McNeill Hospital, the emergency division was closed from 3 pm Saturday to 7 am Sunday.

Island Well being advisable residents make their technique to whichever emergency room was open, advising that BC Emergency Well being Providers had protocols in place to verify ambulances transported sufferers to an open ER.

The gap between the 2 communities is about 41 kilometers, and the closest regional hospital ER is in Campbell River, about 2.5 hours away.

BC Inexperienced Chief Sonia Furstenau and Adam Olsen, MLA for Saanich North and the Islands, who’ve been conducting a “rural health-care tour,” say the system is going through erosion, and even collapse, as a consequence of pandemic burnout, long-standing staffing shortages at hospitals and the lack to draw or preserve household physicians in small communities.

Whereas a few of these challenges are felt throughout the province, they hit extra acutely in rural communities, Olsen stated.

And overcrowding or closures of native ERs and a shortage of docs can have a spillover impact at regional hospitals and ERs in communities like Campbell River, Comox Valley and Nanaimo, that are additionally below stress, Furstenau stated.

“There simply appears to be this pressure, this rising persistent pressure, that’s now turning into acute on the system,” she stated. “The toll it is taking up nurses is fairly vital.”

Rural residents on Vancouver Island are voicing issues about native ER closures, lengthy drives to different communities, and the reliability of ambulances, Furstenau stated.

“For individuals, there’s an actual fear about with the ability to entry well being care once you want it.”

Adriane Gear, vice-president of the BC Nurses’ Union, stated the elevated frequency of momentary ER closures in North Island and ambulance response instances replicate an issue that has effects on communities throughout the province.

Residents of small island communities like Port McNeill and Port Hardy may decide ​​to journey extra typically to hospitals in bigger facilities for care, Gear stated. “However these hospitals are already at a breaking level.”

And the drive from North Island to Campbell River is by way of a freeway with lengthy stretches with out cell service.

“Are you able to think about driving your partner with chest ache for like an hour and a half … with spotty cell service?” she stated. “It’s completely a disaster state of affairs and has an affect on the well being of these communities.”

Nurses are spent bodily and mentally and cannot be requested to do extra after two-plus years of a pandemic, Gear stated, including COVID-19 affected person numbers at hospitals are on the rise proper now.

“It is very distressing working at a facility and understanding it’ll have to shut as a result of you are going to take your first trip in two or three years,” Gear stated. “Or since you’ve contracted COVID and may’t go into work.”

Island Well being has relied on shifting nurses to plug staffing gaps on the final minute, Gear stated, which suggests nurses are typically in areas they won’t be certified to work in.

The well being authority can also be counting on rising on personal company contract nurses, Gear stated. She stated the assistance is welcome, however contract nurses cannot be redeployed they usually additionally might not be aware of the ability they’re working in.

Nobody was obtainable from Island Well being to talk with a reporter.

Nonetheless, it stated in a press release that staffing shortages as a consequence of COVID-19 are impacting the well being authority and different areas of the province.

“This could trigger shortages that are significantly difficult in rural and distant communities and inside small websites or packages,” the e-mail stated, including that typically, one workers member calling in sick can have an effect on minimal workers ranges essential for affected person security.

There hasn’t been a state of affairs the place each native ERs north of Campbell River have been closed on the identical time and no sufferers had been diverted south of Port Hardy or Port McNeill as a result of weekend closures, Island Well being stated.

It additionally stated the momentary closures of the North Island ERs usually are not impacting regional hospital ERs in Campbell River, North Island or Nanaimo.

It didn’t make clear whether or not it expects additional ER closures in North Island.

Port McNeill Mayor Gaby Wickstrom stated in an electronic mail that the emergency room closures have residents in her neighborhood involved.

“We’re actively working with Island Well being to brainstorm recruitment and retention options,” Wickstrom stated.

“Island Well being has been open with us that this problem is not going to be solved in a single day, and we should navigate via the shortages over the summer season.”