On April 19, members of the public joined town council in the Community Centre for a Let’s Talk event.
The theme of the event was health, and the seven members of council were joined by seven people who work in health care, both from in town and from the surrounding area.
Melanie Maracle is the Health Service Administrator for Chetwynd and Tumbler Ridge. She gave an opening report on the state of health care in town.
She says there are currently three doctors in Tumbler Ridge, and in September, a fourth will be arriving. “We’re doing pretty good with physician recruitment, and thank you to the District and all the help that they also provided us over the years in this process,” says Maracle. “So that’s great news.”
But even with four doctors, she says that it can be tough to balance appointments during the week with the doctors having to cover overnight in emergency. “When they do cover emergency, then following morning are off due to having potentially treated people visiting the clinic overnight. So it kind of ebbs and flows on how long it takes to schedule an appointment.”
She says one of the big things that the clinic has been facing recently is medical notes for Conuma employees. “We have been working with our partners at Conuma, and they’ve made some changes. We’re hoping that will make some reductions in how long people have to wait to see a general practitioner.”
In addition to having a full slate of doctors, the clinic also has built a robust team in the diagnostic centre. “I think we’re actually up six more workers than what we had at the clinic when I first started. For a small site, this is a positive thing.”
One important aspect of that is having a medical lab assistant and a medical lab clerk. In addition, there is a Combined Lab and X-Ray Technician (CLXT) working at the clinic. “This is a fancy certified type health professional where they work part X-Ray, part lab but they don’t do the full functions of what a full X-Ray technologist does. They can also work in the lab, though they can’t do what a full medical lab tech can do. But because of the size of Tumbler Ridge, they actually can do the full scope of what we need for lab and X-Ray services. So that’s also a good thing for us because it builds in some redundancies. If someone’s sick in the lab, this individual can cover the lab, and if someone is on vacation in the X-Ray department, this individual hopefully can cover for X-Ray.”
She says they have been able to get another nurse into the community. “Northern Health has a travel resource pool,” says Maracle. “These are Northern Health nurses who work at various sites across Northern Health, and we were able to successfully recruit someone into that role who comes into the community regularly for anywhere from two to six weeks at a time. She really likes Tumbler Ridge, but has family elsewhere. This allows her to enjoy the best of both worlds. She can live where she’s always lived, but also she is able to come work in a community that she’s come to love.”
But that means that there are only two registered nurse positions filled at the clinic, while there is space for four. “One person is on leave, so when she comes back, we will have three. We’re actively recruiting for the other position.”
The hope is to find someone who is trained in working in the Emergency Department, but that’s not a requirement. “The most recent person we recruited to the community had no Emergency Department training. We have spent the last year helping get her up to feeling comfortable working in there. We’ve been very creative in our recruitment so that we can help support the community.”
Another big win, says Maracle, is a new Mental Health and Addictions Councillor for the community. (They were scheduled to start April 24.)
In addition, there is an Occupational Therapist who works between Tumbler Ridge and Chetwynd as well as a second Community Home Support Worker whose job it is to help people at home and out of the clinic.
Angela de Smit, Chief Operating Officer for the Northeast Region says the Tumbler Ridge clinic follows the national triage standard. “When individuals come to the Emergency Department, the nurse runs down a series of questions and determines what level they are at within their presentation to the Emergency Department.”
The nurse then slots them into one of five categories, ranging from life threatening to something that could be handled by setting up an appointment during office hours. “So even though you may have come to the Emergency Department at six o’clock at night, and somebody else comes to the Emergency Department at seven o’clock at night, the other person may actually get in to see the physician before you do, because the assessment is they are at a higher level of need and care than what you may have been assessed at. We do that to make sure we’re seeing the most acute or critical patients in the most expedient time that we can.”
Maracle reminds people that the Tumbler Ridge Diagnostic Treatment Centre is not a hospital. “We have a great diagnostic services team. X-ray and Lab work. But we’re not providing the same level of service that a true hospital could provide.” This means that the clinic is not open after hours. “We are asking the public when you do come to the Emergency Department to really think about whether it a true emergency. Is it non-urgent, and if so, could the issue be handled in a different way?”
The clinic, she says is open Monday to Friday from nine to five, excluding holidays. “Outside these normal hours, the Emergency Department is only accessible by calling 911. We ask that residents think about what is an emergency? I know it’s sometimes very difficult to decide if you fall into this or not, but if there are any sudden or unusual changes in your health—difficulty breathing, severe, uncontrolled bleeding or pain, large broken bones, chest pain, suspected overdoses or eye injuries—these are emergencies. If you don’t fall into these categories, you should ask yourself what your options are. “What are some of the things that you could do before accessing the Emergency Department? The first thing is the Medical Clinic. Maybe you could try and get in at the clinic itself the next day? If not, then Northern Health has what we call the Northern Health Virtual Clinic. It’s an 844 number. It is open seven days a week from 10am to 10pm, including weekends and stat holidays. That’s a chance to talk to a nurse and or a physician to be able to get assessed that way.”
De Smit says the virtual clinic began with Covid. “Because it’s been so popular, particularly for our rural and remote communities, we have kept it.”
Another option is 811. “They can help you figure out some things you can try at home before going into the Emergency Department.”
Or, if you just need to get a prescription filled, check with the local pharmacy. Sometimes you may still have another month that can be filled out. Even if not, they can usually get you an emergency supply to get you through until you are able to get an appointment at the clinic.
“If people have concerns about possible poisoning,” says Maracle, “then there is the poison control centre. Finally, if it’s not an emergency, but you really want to be seen, then there are 24 hour facilities in Chetwynd and Dawson Creek.”
Maracle says a lot of people are concerned about diversions. “A lot of people are wondering why we put the Emergency Department on diversion. Predominantly what it is, is not having a nurse in the community. We only have two currently, soon to be three. All we need is one person to have worked a couple of days in a row and they can’t work anymore. Then someone calls in sick, and now we’re on diversion. That’s what generally happens. We do our best to try and find replacements but we aren’t always able to do that.
“Or sometimes we’re on diversion because the nurse on call had to go with the ambulance to help take a really sick patient get to a higher level of care site. And so again, we might go on diversion for that reason as well.”
The Northern Health Virtual Clinic phone number is 1-844-645-7811. Poison control is 1 800-567-8911 and HealthLink BC is 811.
Trent is the publisher of Tumbler RidgeLines.
