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By Dylana Kneeshaw

INTERIOR HEALTHCARE

Barriere and Ashcroft among Interior communities concerned with staffing-related health service disruptions

Jan 19, 2022 | 4:59 PM

KAMLOOPS — A myriad of staffing changes and closures announced by Interior Health (IH) on Tuesday (Jan. 18) were made in response to Omicron-driven staffing impacts. (See previous story here.)

Depending on how the situation plays out, IH CEO Susan Brown says service disruptions could last for a month.

“Initially we’re going to look at a four-week period,” Brown says. “But as all our operations it’s important that you review them daily and weekly. So four weeks initially, and if we can start things back up prior to that, we will.”

Changes include re-deploying staff from the Barriere Health Centre to nearby emergency departments to keep those open and reducing service hours at other centres to also minimize the amount of last-minute notice communities have with sporadic closures.

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“So really just trying to provide predictable services to communities over the next few weeks… over the last week we’ve really started to see increased sick calls beyond what we can sustain,” Brown says.

Barriere Mayor Ward Stamer says he understands that COVID-19 has taken a toll on healthcare staff within IH, and action had to be taken to handle it. However, he’s frustrated and shocked that there wasn’t more communication from the health authority prior to the closure release being sent out. He wants to meet with them to clarify what will happen with certain services.

“Disappointment in not being able to have a meaningful discussion with Interior Health on maybe some of the things we can do in that period of time. Still a lot of unknowns,” says Stamer, who hopes to hear more this week from IH. “Whether there’s going to be a continuation of any outpatient (services), any bloodwork, any x-ray, what’s going to be the impact on the doctor’s offices?”

Elsewhere, Ashcroft Mayor Barbara Roden says the loss of Lytton’s health centre over the summer, and now Omicron, has strained the emergency department. Often the result of staffing shortages right before the weekend, closures of the Ashcroft emergency department are a frequent occurrence.

“The big thing that I hear over and over is we have aging populations who depend on a variety of healthcare services,” Roden notes. “It’s not just having an emergency department open. And without those services consistently available, more and more people are throwing up their hands and saying, ‘you know I love living in Ashcroft, in Barriere, in Chase, in Clinton, and I can’t live here anymore’.”

Normally, Roden says the Ashcroft emergency department is open Fridays through until Monday morning. The mayor says it’s difficult to recruit and keep staff working weekend overnights at a rural facility. In the long term, they want adjustments to not only make the shifts more attractive, but to spread out the service hours.

“We are working in Ashcroft on a new model that would have emergency service provision here seven days a week. Now it would be during the daytime and evening hours, not overnight. But at least it would provide that consistency,” Roden says.

Brown adds that disrupting services is not an ideal scenario, and Interior Health is going to continue concentrating on improving staff levels for both the short, and long term.

“During this time, we’re really turning our heads to recruitment,” Brown says.