Sign identifying Lillooet Hospital/via Valerie Madill
The latest shutdown of the emergency room in Lillooet is underway as of this Saturday, March 29th.
“Lillooet and area residents are advised of temporary changes to the emergency department hours at Lillooet Hospital and Health Centre,” said Interior Health in a bulletin sent out on Friday evening.
The announced 25-hour ER shut down, from Saturday at 7am to Sunday at 8am, is the latest in a string of closures which began on March 10th at the Lillooet Hospital and Health Centre.
The shutdowns have been forcing the broader community, which is estimated to be around 50,000 people in the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District, to travel elsewhere for medical help.
“Patients can access emergency care at Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops during this time,” said the Health Authority in its Friday notification.
That, according to Google Maps, is a 1:58 drive. (at the speed limit and under prime conditions)
Notably, during this current string of closures, Interior Health has not recommended the Ashcroft Urgent and Primary Care Center as a more convenient alternative for people in medical need in Lillooet and the surrounding area.
Over 45-minutes closer by vehicle, the UPCC in Ashcroft is open 12-hours a day, seven days a week.
While not a guarantee a wait at the Ashcroft UPCC will result in a sit-down with a medical professional, compared to Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops which is fully staffed 24/7, it would be expected that patients from the Lillooet area could be prioritized.
The Ashcroft UPCC sees patients based on medical urgency, and expectations are those who were making the over hour-long drive to see a doctor or other medical professional most likely have an urgent medical issue.
Entrance to the Ashcroft Urgent and Primary Care Center/via IB Man Google
If the current Lillooet shutdown concludes as the Health Authority anticipates, the Hospital’s Emergency Department will have been closed a total of 295 hours in March.
With 744 hours in the month, this would translate to the ER being shut down around 39.5% of the time — or 12.3 days out of a total of 31.
Should there be a need for a further diversion in the 40-hours remaining in March, only three hours of closure would be needed to tip the Lillooet Emergency Department’s closures for March into the 40% range.
The local ER shutdowns in Lillooet have seen Interior Health drop its customary tag line from its external notifications when letting the public know about impending emergency department closures:
“The emergency department in Lillooet is normally open 24/7”
The line disappeared from the media notifications on March 18th.
It’s not clear why the move was made — whether it was a public relations exercise or whether there may have been legal concerns about stating the local ER was “normally” open.
Of the 240 hours that were available through the first 10 days after the latest shutdowns started on March 10th, 123 hours’ worth of ER staffing were lost.
