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
BREAKING Speaker kicks Poilievre out of Commons over unparliamentary comments
Speaker Greg Fergus kicked Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre out of the House of Commons during question period today.
Man dies after suffering cardiac arrest while waiting in ER, widow wants investigation
When an ambulance took David Lippert to the hospital in March of 2023, the 68-year-old Kitchener, Ont., executive was hoping to find out why he was feeling weak and unable to walk. Some 24 hours later, he was found unresponsive in the ER.
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.
Freeland previews omnibus budget bill, proposed capital gains tax change left out
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland will be tabling yet another omnibus bill to pass a sweeping range of measures promised in her April 16 federal budget, though left out of the legislation is the government's proposed capital gains tax change.
Air Canada walks back new seat selection policy change after backlash
Air Canada has paused a new seat selection fee for travellers booked on the lowest fares just days after implementing it.
McGill requests 'police assistance' over pro-Palestinian encampment
McGill University says it has 'requested police assistance' about the pro-Palestinian encampment on its lower field.
Judge raises threat of jail in hush money trial as he holds Trump in contempt, fines him US$9,000
Donald Trump was held in contempt of court Tuesday and fined US$9,000 for repeatedly violating a gag order that barred him from making public statements about witnesses, jurors and some others connected to his New York hush money case. And if he does it again, the judge warned, he could be jailed.
Court upholds Milwaukee police officer's firing for posting racist memes after Sterling Brown arrest
The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that a former Milwaukee police officer was properly fired for posting racist memes related to the arrest of an NBA player that triggered a public outcry.
Video captures deadly wrong-way police chase on Highway 401 in Ontario
A new video has surfaced showing a vehicle being pursued by police in the wrong direction on Highway 401 moments prior to a fatal crash that killed four people, including an infant and their grandparents.