Nurses rally at B.C. Interior hospital over security, staffing concerns
Nurses held a rally Wednesday at a hospital in the B.C. Interior that closed its emergency department more than a dozen times last year due to insufficient staff.
The lunch-hour gathering at Nicola Valley Hospital in Merritt was held to put pressure on Interior Health to do more to address "security concerns and systemic staffing shortages" at the facility, according to the BC Nurses' Union.
Nurses at the hospital say the health authority has ignored their calls for increased security after two recent incidents, the BCNU said in a statement Wednesday.
The most recent incident happened two weeks ago and involved a person following a nurse into the building during a night shift. The intruder was found sleeping in the facility the next morning, according to the BCNU.
Nurses also requested extra security after a stabbing in the facility's parking lot last October, the union said.
"It’s the employer’s duty to ensure a safe workplace," said BCNU president Adriane Gear, in the statement.
"Despite nurses' repeated asks for security at this facility, nothing has been done. This, as they work 16-hour-plus shifts to keep the ER doors open because of the staffing challenges they continue to deal with."
Nicola Valley Hospital saw more than a dozen temporary closures of its emergency room last year, most of them attributed to "limited physician availability" or other staffing shortages.
The situation was so bad that Merritt Mayor Michael Goetz said he planned to withhold health-care payments to the province over lack of reliable service. He encouraged other local leaders to do the same. https://bc.ctvnews.ca/b-c-mayor-wants-other-cities-to-consider-withholding-payments-to-province-over-er-closures-1.6596153
"It affects the way you live," he told CTV News back in October.
"On the weekend, I was out with a couple of friends and somebody said, 'Be careful, don't get hurt because our hospital's closed down.'"
When the department is closed, patients are instructed to travel roughly an hour to Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops, 84 kilometres away.
So far in 2024, the facility has seen only two closures, according to news releases posted on the Interior Health website. Both came within a week of each other in February.
Nurses say staffing challenges remain, however, citing a growing and aging population – as well as Merritt's location on the main highway between the Lower Mainland and the Interior – as pressures that contribute to demand at Nicola Valley Hospital.
A lack of long-term care facilities also puts pressure on the hospital's ER, according to the BCNU, which says there's "no action plan in place to effectively retain the nurses who currently work at the hospital and recruit other nurses to the community."
“Nurses don’t want to see patients suffer any longer," said Gear. "The people of Merritt deserve better health care. It’s not uncommon for the hospital’s nurse vacancy rate to hover at twice what it should be, but Interior Health has yet to provide tangible staffing solutions that will address the crisis in this community.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Police clear pro-Palestinian protesters from Columbia University while clashes break out at UCLA
The pro-Palestinian demonstration that paralyzed Columbia University ended in dramatic fashion, with police carrying riot shields bursting into a building that protesters took over the previous night and making dozens of arrests. On the other side of the country, clashes broke out early Wednesday between duelling groups at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Will an 'out of sight, out of mind' cellphone policy make a difference in Ontario schools?
Ontario’s cellphone ban in schools has been met with mixed reaction, with some teachers concerned about constant policing of kids and experts applauding the change as necessary for student learning.
National strategy must recognize caregivers as 'backbone' of society: centre
Canadians need help looking after family members who are aging, sick or have disabilities, and many caregivers are seniors who need help themselves, says a new report calling for a national strategy that recognizes the mental and financial toll of the job.
WATCH Arnold Schwarzenegger spotted filming in Elora, Ont.
The name of the project has not been officially released although it’s widely believed to be the Netflix series FUBAR.
Lawyers for alleged Winnipeg serial killer point to opinion poll in bid to get jury tossed
The lawyers of an alleged serial killer in Winnipeg are questioning whether pre-trial publicity in the high-profile case may have influenced the jury’s decision-making ability, after a public poll commissioned by the defence found 81 per cent of respondents believe the accused is guilty.
Ontario woman surprised after 20-year-old fines suddenly tank credit score
An Ontario woman says that she was shocked when provincial fines from 20 years ago suddenly tanked her credit score last week, but the situation may not be as unusual as it seems, according to at least debt expert.
Poilievre kicked out of Commons after calling Prime Minister Justin Trudeau 'wacko'
Testy exchanges between the prime minister and his chief opponent ended with the Opposition leader and one of his MPs being ejected from the House of Commons on Tuesday -- and the rest of Conservative caucus walking out of the chamber in protest.
WATCH Moose strolls through Fredericton
A Fredericton woman is awe-struck after seeing a moose stroll down a city street on Tuesday.
Baby, grandparents among 4 people killed in wrong-way police chase on Ontario's Hwy. 401
A police chase which started with a liquor store robbery in Bowmanville Monday night ended in tragedy some 20 minutes later when a suspect fleeing police entered Highway 401 in the wrong direction and caused a pileup which killed an infant and the child's grandparents, as well as the suspect, investigators say.