A couple weeks without on-call coverage in the Tumbler Ridge Emergency Room has been avoided, due to a last minute donation by the District of Tumbler Ridge, which was able to attract an agency nurse.
According to Deputy Mayor Darryl Krakowka, he got an email at 9:25 on February 14 from Northern Health, saying they had been unable to get coverage for ER nursing for a two week period, starting February 15 and running to March 2.
On Friday, on the Northern Health Tumbler Ridge Facebook page, Northern Health posted “We regret to inform the community of Tumbler Ridge that there will be a temporary suspension of ER nursing on-call coverage services during the rest of the month.”
Council held an emergency meeting that evening and voted to add up to $250/day to help Northern Health find coverage. In his preamble, Krakowka thanked all the people in the Emergency services in town, especially the nurses. “Thanks to the Tumbler Ridge nurses,” he said. “This is not against them whatsoever. We are here to assist them to make sure we have nurses in Tumbler Ridge for our residents. We have nurses in town that have been working amazing amounts of hours, and it’s come to a point wherethey are unable or feel they shouldn’t be working anymore.”
While this specific issue was resolved, there are larger issues afoot, says Councillor Miedzinski. “One of my concerns is this happened six months ago with the lab tech,” he says. “We fronted money to have a temporary relief attraction for $1000/week. That was for 23 days. One of the concerns at that time for council was are we setting a precedent by fronting money all the time. We were reassured thatit wouldn’t happen, but here we are six months later and its happening again. We’re putting forward money for Northern Health to attract people. Is this going to continue to happen? Is there a permanent solutions? Is there a game plan going forward? This could potentially happen every year, and I don’t think it’s fair to keep putting tax dollars to this that if we can’t find asolution. I don’t think it’s acceptable for residents, council and staff.”
Councillor Norbury says that Council needs to do something. “Some people may say this is not our responsibility to provide nursing, it’s our health care system. We need to make a stand and say it doesn’t matter whose responsibility this is. We can do something about this, so we should. This is a way we can make a change and make something positive happen. I agree this shouldn’t be our responsibility. The cost is high, but what value do you put on a person’s health and potentially their life? If this is successful and we bring someone in and we have an emergency, and that’s the difference between someone surviving or not, getting in that Golden Hour to see a medical professional? I don’t think it matters the amount of money we are putting forward.”
Councillor Miedzinski disagrees. “Why should the lives be our respon- sibility as council? This is out of our realm. This is Northern Health’s responsibility. It’s being put onto us. We need to reach out to the Northeast Medical Advisory Committee and find out what they have as a game plan moving forward. Not just for Tumbler Ridge, but for the region. Because this doesn’t happen just here.”
Deputy Mayor Krakowka says this is definitely something that needs to be discussed deeper. “One of our respon- sibility as a council is to make sure our residents are taken care of. We have a fire service, we have water and sewer. Health Care is not something we are supposed to do. That’s supposed to be through the province.
“We’ve got to go further than this. That’s going to be a discussion at a later date. We need to decide where we’re going to go with this, instead of having these emergency meetings because we got an email saying they’re shutting down the emergency room in Tumbler Ridge starting tomorrow.”
Councillor Lehmann agrees. “This is the second time we’ve tried this; I think Northern Health needs to figure out a way. There’s a drastic shortage of nurses everywhere, but we need to find a long- term solution. This band-aid solution that we are proposing, might mean in another six months we’re in the same boat. We need to talk to Northern Health and see what we can figure out so this doesn’t happen again.”
Mayor Bertrand—who called in on the phone—say he has reached out to Northern Health and told them he’s concerned this is becoming a pattern. “It’s not ideal,” he says. “I expressed our commitment to see that medical service in town continue and is not deflated in any way. I told them we want to work with Northern Health in any way we can, and a week’s notice is required if there is a situation that comes up. They are very challenged in trying to fill all the positions, and accommodate holidays. If they come up short, the service gets cancelled. I’m proud of this council stepping up to the plate to ensure the service we have in town continues. I am in support of this, but share the concern that this is a pattern.” By Saturday morning, the notice on
The Northern Health Facebook Page had changed. “Good morning Tumbler Ridge,” it said. “We are happy to announce that the lack of on-call ER coverage situation has been resolved and we now have coverage throughout the rest of the month! We are grateful to the District of Tumbler Ridge for their generous collaboration, leading to this solution! All days previously noted to have no ER nursing on-call coverage now has coverage and will operate as per usual.”
