Image Credit: CFJC Today

By Curtis Goodrum

VIRTUAL EMERGENCY CARE

Communities will keep sharp eye on success of Virtual Emergency Care Pilot Programs

Oct 23, 2025 | 4:56 PM

KAMLOOPS – Earlier this week, Interior Health and the province announced virtual emergency care will be coming to four communities across the region, including Lillooet and Clearwater.

These communities were chosen due to the low frequency of overnight emergency room visits.

The program’s goal is to help ease the burden on emergency room staff and reduce the amount of ER closures being experienced across the Interior.

The Virtual Care pilot programs will have nurses on site; however, only one doctor will be responsible for four hospitals overnight, including in Lillooet and Clearwater.

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“This healthcare crisis we’re in — we’re in for the long ride here. It’s not going to be solved in a year. It’s not going to be solved in two years. This is a five-, 10-, 15-year problem. Right now, this is a new bright idea to try to ease the pressure on the doctors and get some quality of life back for a whole bunch of people in the medical system,” said Merlin Blackwell, Mayor of Clearwater Thursday (Oct. 23).

Nicola Valley Hospital has recently had two emergency room closures due to staff illness. Merritt Mayor Mike Goetz believes more staff and beds are needed

“You talk about a situation where something closes down because two people are not well, it’s going to show you that there’s not enough coverage even when everybody is well. We still need more nurses. Every community in BC knows this. Northern Health is worse than we are. We would like to see more nurses,” said Goetz.

Clearwater has had eight temporary closures this year and hopes this pilot will bring it down to zero and reduce pressure on staff.

“What it’s designed to do is to give our doctors a break. A lot of our doctors work up to 48-hour shifts and that is just wrecking their mental health, their health and burning them out. We need to stop doing that,” said Blackwell.

Goetz believes the health authority needs to provide more staffing to hospitals before reverting to virtual emergency care.

“It’s another way of saying, ‘Hey, we’re covering your situation without actually fixing the problem.’ We need warm bodies, not a TV set. No, I would not support it. I would not like to see it come to my community,” said Goetz.

“We still need staff. What we need is stable staff. I see a program like this, if it lasts a year or two, helps create that stability, stops the burnout,” said Blackwell.

Both mayors hope this is a temporary fix that leads to a long-term solution.