Rural ERs closed due to lack of staff
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 03/01/2022 (1542 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
At least eight emergency departments in rural Westman are currently either closed or operating at severely reduced availability due to a combination of staffing shortages and physical resource issues.
According to the Prairie Mountain Health website as of Friday evening, this list of emergency room closures includes a mix of recent announcements and long-standing notices:
• Boissevain Health Centre (closed from Dec. 24 at 8 a.m. to Jan. 4 at 8 a.m.)
• Deloraine Health Centre (closed from Dec. 31 at 4 p.m. to today at 8 a.m.)
• Melita Health Centre (closed from Dec. 14 at 7 a.m. to Jan. 13 at 7 a.m. and from Jan. 18 at 7 a.m. to Jan. 27 at 7 a.m.)
• Tiger Hills (Treherne) Health Centre (closed from Dec. 24 at 7 a.m. to today at 3 p.m.)
• Souris Health Centre (closed weekly from Mondays at 8 a.m. to Tuesday at 8 a.m.)
• Ste. Rose General Hospital (closed daily from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m.)
• Shoal Lake/Strathclair Health Centre (still closed until further notice)
• Roblin Health Centre (closed weekly from Mondays at 8:30 a.m. to Saturdays at 8:30 a.m.)
PMH CEO Brian Schoonbaert told the CBC that the health authority has been trying to fill these nursing and diagnostic vacancies, but with very little success.
“The issue is that we haven’t been able to find agency nurses to pick up those spaces,” he said.
“There’s a lot of openings that agency nurses can choose from and, unfortunately, we weren’t able to pick up sufficient people during this period.”
Schoonbaert also mentioned that recruitment efforts will continue in the new year.
However, the scarce availability of emergency department services over the holiday break has left people like Municipality of Boissevain-Morton Mayor Judy Swanson completely taken aback.
After all, the recent closure of the Boissevain and Deloraine health centres means that residents in the area seeking emergency care will need to travel to either Killarney or Brandon, the latter of which is located more than 70 kilometres away.
“It is unacceptable,” Swanson told the CBC earlier this week. “It was my understanding that we had sufficient staff to cover Christmas. I’m not sure what happened.”
For further information on the status of PMH emergency departments, visit prairiemountainhealth.ca/ed-schedules.
» The Brandon Sun