With the ER at the Nicola Valley Hospital facing numerous closures, concerned Merritt residents are once again taking a stand this weekend.

For the second weekend in a row, concerned Merritt residents will be voicing their frustrations, calling on the government to take action to address shortages at the hospital.

Merritt Mayor Mike Goetz, who will also be at the rally, says they’ve changed the location of the protest this weekend, as they are expecting a larger crowd compared to last weekend.

“There was one last Sunday very hurriedly called together and it was up at the hospital on hospital grounds. This one is going to be just a little further down in the Central Park area because we expect there’ll be a whole pile of more people showing up to it,” he said.

“We want more room and the last thing the organizers wanted to do was disrupt any kind of hospital activity. So the organizers felt it would be better if we move down to the Central Park area.”

So far this year, the ER in Merritt has been forced to close eight times, noting it has been 11 since December due to a lack of doctors and nurses.
Goetz says they are calling on the government to take action to address the physician and nursing shortages in the ER.

“There’s a lot of frustration and I think this is the one way that we let the government know that we’re not happy and we are going to continue to do this until we have some of these things looked at. Paying lip service to things is great, but this time we have to move and I think that is where we are now.”

Goetz says they are asking the province to open up about long-term, strategic plans to address the crumbling healthcare system.

“They don’t seem to have any kind of long-term plans. It’s kind of like let’s get through this for the next couple of months and then we’ll try something else. We just want to see more of a current comprehensive plan, that you actually have a plan on how to defeat this situation.”

Despite Goetz’s attempts to discuss with Health Minister Adrian Dix this week regarding the first protest at the hospital — Goetz says it’s been silent on the province’s side.

“I reached out twice. We had a scheduled call that was supposed to happen. I believe Wednesday night at 5:30. I never did get it. I contacted him the next morning. I haven’t heard anything since,” he said.

Goetz says he will continue to reach out to the Health Minister to bring his concerns to the table.