Merritt mayor wants more transparency from Interior Health as ER closures debated during Question Period

The mayor of Merritt wants Interior Health (IH) to be more transparent and proactive as the community of around 8,000 people has been forced to navigate another series of emergency room closures.

The ER in Merritt has already been closed on four occasions this year, most recently on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. It was also closed Sunday night, Feb. 23, and on Feb. 8.

Goetz told CFJC Today that the closure on Sunday night was “especially concerning” as a firefighter who responded to a house fire had to be taken to Kelowna for treatment.

“And after he was treated for dehydration, at 11:30 at night, he had to find his own way home,” Goetz said. “That is not the best way to be treating your protective services people. If that firefighter had sustained third degree burns, he wouldn’t be with us today because there was no possibility he would have been seen in time.”

“We have been bumping by on a wing and prayer on this and that cannot continue to go on.”

In his letter, Goetz called on Interior Health and its president and CEO Susan Brown to keep the City of Merritt in the loop when it comes to staffing the emergency room at the Nicola Valley Hospital.

“As the president of IH, I am asking you to supply us with staffing information and what measures are being taken to cover shifts,” Goetz wrote. “We are three years into this issue and it maybe [is] time to start appointing staff to hospitals and not asking for someone to fill it.”

“Being three years in, I can assume we have had several nurses graduate during this time and what has been the plan with these new nurses and where have they been allotted to?”

Goetz also wants Interior Health to be more proactive with its communications so that Merritt “can prepare for possible closures.”

“Getting notification one hour or 30 minutes before closure time is not acceptable,” Goetz said, referencing a document that he released in October that warned of 32 possible ER closures in the final three months of last year.

“I know this information is there and I would appreciate it if I could get it from IH and not [through] an informant.”

Goetz also wants Interior Health to keep at least one ambulance in Merritt so residents have access to it if they need it. He has raised concerns in the past, saying that when the ER is closed, ambulances are used to take patients to either Kamloops or Kelowna, leaving Merritt firefighters to then respond to medical calls.

“We need that protection in our city for our emergency services as well as the travelling public as we traditionally see 25,000-to-30,000 vehicles go by here daily on the Coquihalla and issues become greater with snow and bad roads,” Goetz said.

He also reaffirmed his intention to seek reimbursement for emergency room closures in Merritt, saying “it is not acceptable to take funding and not produce the service.”

“We are on [pace] for 24-to-30 closures for 2025,” Goetz said. “I’ve been after the Provincial Government to come up with a plan, but now I think IHA needs to get involved and start answering something of these questions.”

“I am asking for leadership now to stop any possible issues that can come from these closures, issues that could alter lives in this city.”

Merritt ER closures discussed in Question Period

Goetz’s letter, dated Feb. 27, comes the same day the series of ER closures at the Nicola Valley Hospital in Merritt was briefly brought up during Question Period in the BC legislature by the BC Conservative Party.

“Nicola Valley Hospital in my riding, the ER has been closed for [more than] 26 days this past year. To the premier, when will hospital closures stop in British Columbia?” Fraser-Nicola MLA Tony Luck, in whose riding Merritt lies, asked.

Other BC Conservative MLAs also raised similar questions connected to ER closures in Williams Lake, 100 Mile House, Keremeos, and Lillooet to name a few.

BC Health Minister Josie Osborne responded to Luck’s question to say that the provincial government “will continue to do the work we have to do to bolster and build our healthcare workforce.”

“Mr. Speaker, we are going to continue this work to fast-track the credentialing of internationally trained doctors, to build a new medical school in Surrey, to train new doctors here in British Columbia so that we are not experiencing these kinds of closures any more,” Osborne said.

Osborne also said she spoke to Mayor Goetz on Wednesday and has been in touch with him in the past as well. She also said that she has been in contact with mayors in other communities that have been affected by ER closures.

“Health authorities do everything possible they can working with physicians in the region to mitigate and avoid these kinds of closures,” Osborne said.

“Mr. Speaker, we’re going to continue to support health authorities in that work, we’re going to continue to strengthen and attract and build the workforce because, Mr. Speaker, we know that particularly in rural communities, but in communities across British Columbia, people need to have a system that is there for them when they need it, where they need it.”