‘Can’t take it anymore’: Interior Health ER closures prompt call for internal audit

The mayor of Williams Lake is calling on Interior Health to conduct an internal audit after Caribou Memorial Hospital was temporarily closed 10 times in July.

Every day, residents in several B.C. communities wait with bated breath for four o’clock.

It’s the dreaded time when they learn whether their local emergency department will be temporarily closed, sometimes for days.

For those who rely on the Caribou Memorial Hospital in Williams Lake, B.C., the news has not been very good as of late. The hospital’s emergency department has been closed 10 times in July, with most of the closures happening on weekends.

“I can’t take it anymore. Closure, I can’t take it,” Williams Lake Mayor Surinderpal Rathor said, adding the hospital services tens of thousands of people from surrounding communities.

“(Caribou Memorial) Hospital is not (only) serving the Williams Lake community. It’s serving the region. It’s a regional hospital. It is very important to stay open. Not only summer, around the clock, 24/7, 365 days a year.”

Last Sunday, a wildfire broke out on the outskirts of Williams Lake. However, it happened to occur on the one weekend the emergency department was open this month.

For other Interior Health communities such as Merrit, Lilooet, Oliver and Creston, temporary closures have become a common occurrence.

Since Jan. 1, there have been 62 temporary closures — which Interior Health calls temporary service interruptions — including 28 so far in July.