Hospital closures: they’re still happening and we’re still talking about them. Lots of hospitals in BC are closing their emergency rooms for hours at a time because of staff shortages. But small hospitals in rural BC have it the worst.
This weekend had NorthIsle patients making u-turns on their way to get treatment.
On Saturday July 16th, Port McNeill’s emergency room was closed till 7 a.m. on Sunday and patients were directed to head to Port Hardy for treatment.
Come Sunday, the exact opposite happened. Port Hardy’s ER closed down for the day and patients had to head back to Port McNeill.
Island Health apologized for flip-flopping patients all over the place. But an apology isn’t the same as a functioning healthcare system.
“Island Health acknowledges this is not an ideal situation for the community and we sincerely apologize for any inconvenience experienced by this temporary service reduction,” they said in a press release.
As it is, we’re still waiting on more healthcare workers to keep our emergency rooms open, and change is a long time coming.
