The Kitimat General Hospital faced a challenging year in 2023 with a record number of emergency room closures. Throughout the year, the facility was on diversion 44 times due to staffing shortages, a situation that has become a major concern for residents, especially during inclement weather when a 45-minute drive to the nearest hospital, Mills Memorial in Terrace, becomes necessary.
These frequent closures, often announced with little notice, have heightened the anxiety of families with members suffering from preexisting health conditions. The situation is exacerbated by the ongoing physician and nursing shortages that are affecting hospitals across the province. These shortages are now the subject of several initiatives led by Northern Health, the District of Kitimat, and the B.C. Government.
Kitimat Mayor Phil Germuth, in a recent interview with the Northern Sentinel, expressed his disappointment and concern.
“This is an unacceptable situation,” Germuth said. “Hearing from our healthcare professionals in Kitimat, even they’re not seeing real efforts done by Northern Health to fix this situation.”
Germuth is advocating for a bottom-up reevaluation of staffing requirements, emphasizing the importance of accommodating more part-time workers.
“Society is changing when it comes to work-life balance. Not everybody wants to work full-time. Instead of the status quo, Northern Health needs to start thinking outside the box a little bit. We’d rather have two part-time nurses than no full-time nurses,” he said.
Northern Health’s current recruitment efforts include three full-time emergency registered nurses and two part-time positions in Kitimat. Despite the recruitment of seven nurses since July, the nurse vacancy rate remains high at 37.5 per cent. The authority is also actively seeking three physicians for Kitimat General and is offering incentives, including specialty education opportunities, to attract candidates. These efforts are supplemented by a collaboration with community partners to promote Kitimat as a desirable living location.
Germuth said the hospital’s challenges have become council’s top priority, going so far as to hire an independent consultant to analyze the situation. The findings of this report will be made public next month.
However, the ongoing issue of emergency healthcare access has led to a decrease in community confidence, particularly with perceptions of a permanent redirection of resources from Kitimat General to Mills Memorial Hospital. Northern Health refutes this but acknowledges the diversion of hospital emergency physicians three times in 2023, all in July, to maintain regional services.
On top of Kitimat’s regular emergency needs, Germuth highlights the urgency for adequate staffing at the hospital with the large workforce at Rio Tinto and the LNG Canada construction site, both posing ongoing safety risks.
“Life and death is measured in seconds,” he said.
The bottom line, he said, “We’re not seeing the changes we need to see. Our healthcare professionals are not seeing the changes they need to see.”
He added the district is prepared to invest its own funds into recruitment and retention as needed, and the area’s big industrial companies have indicated they might also contribute.
“What I really hope is … in a month or so I can say changes are happening, and we’re seeing some positive results,” Germuth said. “Hopefully the confidence from the community will be there that we are going to keep these healthcare services in Kitimat.”
In the event of an emergency room closure, anyone suffering life-threatening emergencies like chest pain or severe bleeding are still being urged to call 911. An ambulance will transport them to the nearest facility. For non-urgent care needs, patients can also call the NH Virtual Clinic at 1-844-645-7811 (daily from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.) to access a family doctor or nurse practitioner.