Clearwater ER to close for seventh time in July

CLEARWATER, B.C. — People in the North Thompson Valley will be without emergency room coverage for the seventh time this month, and eighth time this year.

Interior Health says the ER at the Dr. Helmcken Memorial Hospital will be closed for 13 hours starting at 6:00 p.m. Wednesday (July 15). The closure is set to end at 7:00 a.m., and people in need of emergency care are being told to head to Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops.

Local officials in Clearwater are looking into the possibility of funding a clinic, similar to one in Grand Forks, in an effort to attract doctors to the community. It’s unclear when this clinic will open its doors, as it still remains to be seen whether the District of Clearwater chooses to move ahead with this plan.

“This is beyond fresh,” Mayor Merlin Blackwell told CFJC Today. “It’s basically not even hatched at this point.”