Largest city in northeast B.C sees ER closed 5 nights in one week

The largest city in northeastern B.C. has been operating without an emergency room for multiple days in a row as the region grapples with a shortage of health-care professionals.
On Wednesday, the Northern Health Authority announced the ER at the Fort St. John hospital — which serves an immediate population of 28,000 people, and hundreds more from outlying communities — would be closed from 4 p.m. MST July 17 through to 10 a.m. MST on July 18.
It is the fifth closure the ER has had in the past week, with previous shutdowns July 12-14 and on July 16, each beginning in the afternoon or evening and lasting until the next day.
The frequent closures have sparked worry in the community, as well as a push for an independent review of how the hospital is being managed.
"Our lives are at stake," said resident Tyler Holte in an interview with CBC News. "We are losing our life-saving critical service to our community."
In every instance, the health authority blamed "physician coverage challenges" and directed people in need of emergency care to call 911 to be taken to the nearest hospital.
But Holte and others point out that Fort St. John, an industrial hub nearly 800 kilometres northeast of Vancouver, is the largest city in the region.
The next-closest hospitals are roughly 100 kilometres away by road in Chetwynd and Dawson Creek, where ERs have also been closed in recent weeks.
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https://ca.news.yahoo.com/largest-city-northeast-b-c-011543882.html
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Dr. Auric D. Hellman
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