A northern B.C. family is speaking out after a local hospital temporarily closed its emergency department without notice.
Nine-year-old Kaley Moore fell and hurt her wrist Tuesday during a family vacation in Moberly Lake, around 120 kilometres southwest of Fort St. John. Fearing a broken bone, her family drove about 30 minutes south to the Chetwynd Hospital only to find a sign saying that the emergency department was on diversion for the night, meaning arriving patients were sent away.
“I was sad because it really hurt and I didn’t want to wait any longer, especially because we were already there,” Kaley said.
The closure also came as a surprise and disappointment to her father, Doug Moore, who said in an interview with CBC News that he had checked Northern Health’s online information and social media ahead of the drive for any ongoing diversions and found nothing.
“We live in the north, so we understand that these things happen,” he said.
“But when we take the steps to make sure that the hospital is open … and especially when you got a nine-year-old and it’s 9:30 at night, she’s already tired, she’s in pain, she made the big decision to want to go to the hospital, it’s not a great feeling.”
Northern Health said in a statement to CBC News that the “temporary, unplanned diversion” at Chetwynd Hospital lasted from 7:30 p.m. Tuesday to 2 a.m. Wednesday. A nurse had to accompany a patient to Fort St. John, prompting the temporary closure, the statement said.
The health authority added that it’s “challenging” to notify residents in real time when a service interruption happens suddenly, unexpectedly or after hours.
The Moore family is not alone in their complaints about the lack of communications around diversions.
In a Facebook group managed by Northern Health for Dawson Creek, a resident wrote in a July 3 post that people were showing up at the Dawson Creek Hospital at 3 a.m. only to find it closed. The health authority responded to the post saying that “there was no one available to post in the group after hours.”
In its statement to CBC News, Northern Health also says it makes every effort to keep communities informed and asks those with life threatening medical needs to always call 911.
Beyond the issue of communications, a CBC News analysis shows that ER diversions aren’t unusual in rural B.C.
Chetwynd, for example, issued at least 13 notices of temporary closure in 2022. Elsewhere in the province, the Nicola Valley Hospital in Merritt issued its sixth notice of a temporary ER closure this year on Thursday night. Earlier this week, Merritt Mayor Mike Goetz said he is fed up and will bill the province for these service interruptions.
Peace River North MLA Dan Davies said rural British Columbians deserve to be informed and to have access to emergency rooms.
“It is absolutely unacceptable that people are put at risk,” he said. “That this is happening more and more and more and it is almost a regular occurrence now, which is absolutely wrong.”