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urban-rural split: b.c. scrambles to keep white rock er open as rural ers close
vaughn palmer: one wonders what role intense media attention on potential closure played in preventing it
aug 2 2024
4 minute read
peace arch hospital.
arlen redekop
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victoria — the day began with b.c. united ringing the alarm bell over a pending holiday weekend closure of the emergency room at peace arch hospital in white rock.
leading the charge was dr. claudine storness-bliss, united candidate for surrey-cloverdale in the provincial election.
“fraser health is scrambling, trying to get coverage for the 24-hour period starting tomorrow morning,” said dr. storness-bliss, citing the regional health authority that includes white rock.
“it is very likely that some of those shifts will get covered. it is also very unlikely that all of them will,” she told mike smyth on cknw radio thursday morning. “it is unacceptable that they’re still just scrambling to get this done so they don’t lose face, as opposed to doing the right thing and making sure the public is aware.”
later thursday came confirmation, courtesy of a news release from the peace arch hospital foundation, that she knew whereof she spoke.
“due to physician staffing challenges, our emergency department will be going on diversion beginning tomorrow, friday aug. 2, at 4 a.m. until saturday aug. 3, at 7 a.m.”
“diversion” is the government’s preferred euphemism for closure of an emergency room. makes it sound like a minor inconvenience, as with highway signs saying to divert to the centre lane because crews are working on the shoulder.
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the statement went on to explain that during the closure, “peace arch hospital will not be able to accept new patients at our emergency department and patients seeking these services will be redirected to other facilities.”
as a first backup option, patients would be directed to surrey memorial or langley memorial, each a half-hour drive away.
“the peace arch hospital is working with fraser health and the provincial government to mitigate staffing challenges, including working to support recruitment of new doctors,” the statement continued by way of assurance. “we are optimistic that these efforts will yield long-term benefits.”
happily, short-term relief would be at hand as well.
shortly after the foregoing, fraser health put out a statement saying it had managed to fill all of the necessary shifts, consequently the er at peace arch would remain open.
“we work to fill vacant shifts until the very last moment,” explained fraser health and in this case the effort had paid off.
“we want to assure the community that we are supporting our emergency physicians by addressing physician staffing challenges. we are working on sustainment plans to prevent any service adaptations to ensure continuous, safe and timely care for white rock residents and the surrounding area.”
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still, it was a close call.
the time span between announcement of the closure and its cancellation was less than two hours.
you had to wonder if the bad publicity had precipitated the reversal. surrey is a key battleground in the fall provincial election. the closure of the peace arch er was generating major interest with news organizations based in metro vancouver.
the chair of the board of fraser health is jim sinclair, the former head of the b.c. federation of labour and an unabashed activist and ndp supporter. i would not be surprised if the prospect of the er closure at peace arch would have precipitated a phone call or two involving him and/or health minister adrian dix.
contrast the quick fix of the situation at fraser health with what has been happening in the interior and northern health regions this year.
there have been 216 er closures in those two regions, with 72 of them coming in the month of july alone, according to a tally compiled by the united party.
most of those were in communities where the er closure meant driving a lot farther than the 30-minute diversion entailed with a closure at peace arch. many were in ridings not represented by the ndp.
health minister adrian dix didn’t dispute united’s numbers. he did say there would have been many more closures if the province had not done its best to prevent them.
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“the challenge of this summer, we expected going into the year. we identified every shift that has been a problem and 92 per cent of those have been filled, ” he told alec lazenby of postmedia news.
still, if 216 er closures is the best the new democrats can do after seven years in power, it is hardly an advertisement for their health-care policies and plans.
another dix line, voiced in prince rupert earlier this year, is that er closures are “unacceptable” to the government.
on the contrary, the new democrats are racking up a lot of experience in accepting them. there have been 16 er closures in prince rupert alone so far this year.
dix boasts that the new democrats have added 45,000 health care workers since taking office. that goes a long way to explain why they’ve managed to increase health care spending by almost 75 per cent over seven years.
it doesn’t provide a satisfactory explanation for why all those hirings and all that expenditure have failed to stem the tide of er closures in places where they are far more than a minor inconvenience.
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