This doesn't bode well.
So far this year there have been three temporary closures of the emergency room at Nicola Valley Hospital in Merritt due to staff shortages.
Last year, over the same period (January and February) there were none.
"Last year, the ER closures didn't start until June when doctors and nurses started to take holidays" and we were left in a lurch, said Merritt Mayor Michael Goetz.
"But, this year we're having closures right off the bat. I'd love to tell everyone everything is sailing along, but it isn't."
The numbers are ominous.
By the time 2024 came to an end, the ER in Merritt had been closed 23 times, most of them 12 hour and 24 hour shutterings.
And, remember all 23 of those closures came in the second half of the year.
With closures starting early this year, another spring, summer and fall ahead of doctors and nurses taking holidays and trouble getting fill-ins, the number of ER closures in Merritt could hit record highs this year.
.png)
"We have to be prepared for another terrible summer," said the mayor.
"What people may not realize here is that this is a two to four year fix. It won't happen overnight. We have to be prepared for years of little victories and big challenges."
The challenges, of course, is the closures force people needing emergency care to travel to either Kamloops or Kelowna to get it.
There's also the risk that someone needing an ER won't get the treatment they need in time and suffer needlessly or even die.
The first victory is that Merritt, Oliver and Salmon Arm were able to share in $7.5 million of provincial funding to recruit doctors and switch to the alternative payment plan for doctors to bill the hospital directly rather than use the clunky fee-for-service system.
Under the program, the First Nation health service in Merritt was able to bring in three doctors to take its physician count to four.
There are also four other doctors in Merritt.
But not all eight doctors want to work ER shifts at Nicola Valley Hospital.
So, the hospital depends on locum doctors to staff the ER when regular doctors are sick or on holiday.
Locums are essentially travelling doctors who help out by substituting for regular doctors temporarily.
Merritt seems to have the doctor rotation figured out after a doctor shortage was the main reason for ER closures in 2024.
Now, most ER closures are tied to a lack of nurses.
Goetz said Merritt needs at least 44% more nurses to keep up.
This time of year, sick time because of the flu is taking nurses down and a replacement can't be found fast enough to avoid an ER closure.
"For instance, on Sunday, we found out from Interior Health at 5:14 pm that the ER would have to shut down at 7 pm due to a nurse shortage," explained Goetz.
"And then, the ER was closed 24 hours to 7 pm on Monday."
During that time there was a house fire in Merritt where a firefighter ran into trouble with smoke inhalation and dehydration.
With the Merritt ER closed, the firefighter was turned away from Nicola Valley Hospital and told to go to the emergency department at Kelowna General Hospital where he waited four hours for treatment.
Goetz also pointed out that ER closures means paramedics and ambulance drivers essentially become taxi drivers because they have to get patients needing emergency care to Kamloops or Kelowna.
With paramedics and ambulance drives then out of town, firefighters become the medical first responders in the community, further stretching resources thin.
Goetz is hoping Merritt can get in on the province's one-year pilot program to see how physician assistants can help take the load of ER doctors so they can see more patients.
Such assistants can do paperwork, coordination and some basic medical procedures and treatments under a doctor's supervision.
Goetz is in contact with new BC Health Minister Jodie Osborne, who he said has inherited the horrible messes of both the health ministry and ministry for mental health and addictions.
Goetz has also joined a coalition of mayors of small towns that are hardest hit with rolling ER closures.
The mayors from Lillooet, Clearwater, Oliver and Chase are also members.
The mayors have a meeting with the new health minister on March 28.
At that meeting, Goetz will present Osborne with a $220,000 bill representing the money Merritt has lost to ER closures in 2023 and 2024.
Merritt prepays the Thompson Nicola Health District every year for Interior Health to keep the ER at Nicola Valley Hospital open 24/7.
Merritt has a population of around 7,100 and the Nicola Valley Hospital serves a regional population of more than 12,000.
