Merritt Mayor reaching out to feds to deal with frequent ER closures

Merritt Mayor Mike Goetz is reaching out to the federal government to step in to deal with frequent emergency department closures in the community.

While health care is under provincial jurisdiction, Goetz feels the B.C. government is not doing enough to prevent ER closures in smaller communities.

“Right now in Interior Health, we’re seeing a closure about every three days in the IHA (Interior Health Authority). That has been going on pretty steadily for almost four years,” said Goetz.

“I think we’ve gotten to a point where the level of trust and the ability to fix this is gone and I think at this point we need some federal intervention to fix this issue. It’s just simply not going to happen provincially.”

Most recently, Merritt’s ER was closed overnight over the weekend, marking the ninth closure of the year as the community hosts evacuees fleeing wildfires.

“We have over 200 evacuees who are coming from all over the place, from fire-affected areas. We also have 150 to 200 firefighters who are working shift work where they’re in and out,” said Goetz.

“If someone gets injured, we need an ER to take care of those folks. It’s a dire situation to have our ER closed during this gigantic fire season we have right now. It’s unacceptable.”

Merritt is not alone in dealing with frequent ER closure, as the issue is reflected in other communities in the Interior Health region.

“Look at 100 Mile House, they’ve been closed 36 times this year and that’s unacceptable. All told, I think Merritt’s ER has been closed over 100 times over the last four years. I’ve sent two bills and handed the minister two bills last year at the UBCM (Union of B.C. Municipalities) and nobody has ever gotten back to me to say yes or no,” said Goetz.

The mayor said the frequent ER closures are also pinching municipal budgets.

“We pay for our ER fully in advance every year in July. We pay for the whole thing, expecting to get 365 days of coverage and yet we lose 45 to 50 days a year,” said Goetz.