2 North Island hospital emergency rooms closing this weekend
CTV
Emergency departments at hospitals on northern Vancouver Island are once again closing due to limited staffing availability this weekend.
Port McNeill Hospital's emergency department will be closed from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday, and Port Hardy Hospital's will be closed from 7 p.m. on Saturday to 7 a.m. on Sunday, according to a statement from Island Health.
"During this time, all other inpatient services will continue as normal at PMH and PHH," the health authority said.
The upcoming closures mark the second time in the last four weeks that both hospitals have faced emergency room closures on the same weekend.
Port McNeill Hospital's emergency department has also experienced closures on some weekends that Port Hardy Hospital's has not.
The two hospitals, located about a 30-minute drive from one another, are each other's primary diversion locations when an emergency room is closed.
"Anyone experiencing a medical emergency should call 911 or, if possible, proceed to the appropriate hospital," Island Health said in its statement Friday.
"Island Health and BC Emergency Health Services have protocols in place to ensure patients are transported to the appropriate site."
The repeated closures due to limited staff are a phenomenon that has been repeated around the island, throughout the province and across the country in recent months, as Canada's health-care system struggles to cope with employee stress, burnout, summer vacations and staff illness after two and a half years of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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