‘At least we are being listened to’; Merritt mayor optimistic for change with new health minister

MERRITT — British Columbia’s new Health Minister has been in her post for more than four months now, and the mayor of one of the hardest hit communities with hospital closures is sharing confidence in a change of direction.

Mike Goetz had an opportunity, along with a number of affected mayors, to hold court with Minister Josie Osborne last week, sharing concerns and ideas in the face of health care challenges, and ongoing emergency room closures at the Nicola Valley Hospital.

“We were able to voice our concerns and make some statements, and we let the minister know where some of the shortfalls in our community where and some of the things we would like to see happen,” Goetz told Q101 News. “Basically the whole idea is how we can all work together and how we can work with the ministry to see changes happen.”

“I’m confident this is a whole new attitude that at least we are being listened to, and not just shutout of the conversation. And Minister Osborne being a mayor of a smaller community kind of knows what the situation is.”

Goetz confirmed that Osborne has committed to meeting often with the group of mayors.

“I don’t expect that we will all see something very quickly. This is a two to three year process of getting the problems covered. So these are the very first steps, so we are not expecting a lot,” said Goetz.

One thing that has been moved ahead for Merritt, is travel nurses.

“They have approved two travel nurses, and they are basically there when needed. So before we didn’t have that, so basically it’s like a temp-nurse situation and they can call for these travel nurses to come to your community. We didn’t have that before, but we have that now. The nurses were requesting that, along with 24 hour security.”

Last week, the Health Minster announced reviews of all health authorities in British Columbia, starting with the provincial health authority.

“I think the call for the PSHA review probably is the best thing,” said Goetz. “We are looking for a complete review of the PHSA and all the Health Authorities to make sure they are functioning correctly and they are not overloaded and doing the job correctly.”

The most recent temporary closure of the emergency department at Nicola Valley Memorial Hospital was the evening of March 25, 2025.