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By Victor Kaisar

ER Closures

Merritt ER to close for fifth time in 2025

Mar 1, 2025 | 4:31 PM

MERRITT — Make it five emergency room closures at the Nicola Valley Hospital in Merritt this year.

Interior Health says the Merritt ER will be closed for 13 hours starting at 6:00 p.m. Saturday (March 1), with the ER scheduled to reopen at 7:00 a.m. Sunday morning, March 2.

Merritt and area residents in need of emergency medical care are being told to head to Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops or call 9-1-1.

In a statement to CFJC Today on Thursday, Interior Health Vice President of Clinical Operations Diane Shendruk said while emergency services in Merritt “have been more stable in recent months,” there is still a shortage of permanent staff.

“Unfortunately, with a shortage of permanent recruits, service interruptions can still occur when the unexpected happens and someone is suddenly unavailable for a scheduled shift,” Shendruk said.

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Merritt Mayor Mike Goetz also told CFJC Today last week that the City may declare a state of local emergency if the emergency room continues to experience closures at regular intervals.

“At this point, when it gets to a situation where you’re almost running out of any option and you’re being closed almost every single night, no idea is too crazy,” Goetz said, when asked about his suggestion to call in the military as part of the emergency declaration.

While it remains to be seen whether he follows though with the state of local emergency declaration, and what it might actually accomplish, Goetz has written to Interior Health outlining a numbers of requests to try and prevent the closures from happening.

In her email, Shendruk also said that she will be reaching out to Mayor Goetz to discuss his concerns.

“Interior Health appreciates the mayor’s concerns and the impacts changes to normal services have on the residents in Merritt,” she said, noting that Interior Health has recruited four new doctors to Merritt in the last year with more “robust recruitment campaigns” underway to recruit more permanent staff.

“There remain multiple ongoing incentives from Interior Health and the province in place to bring new nurses and physicians to the community.”

As has been the case during all previous emergency room closures, Interior Health says people in Merritt who need life-saving emergency care should call 9-1-1.

People who aren’t sure if they need to head to the emergency room are being told to contact HealthLink BC at 8-1-1.