Nurses in Merritt held a rally outside the Nicola Valley Hospital over the noon hour today, calling on Interior Health to address staffing shortages that have been an issue for over a year.

The rally was organized by the BC Nurses Union, who allege that Interior Health has “ignored” calls for increased security as well, citing two incidents in and around the facility in the past few months.

One of those incidents, the BCNU says, happened two weeks ago, when a person followed a nurse – who was on a night shift – into the hospital and was found sleeping there the next morning. The other one happened last October, when nurses responded to a stabbing in the hospital’s parking lot.

“It’s the employer’s duty to ensure a safe workplace,” BCNU President Adriane Gear said, in a statement.

“Despite nurses repeated asks for security at this facility, nothing has been done. This, as they work 16-hour-plus shifts to keep the ER doors open because of the staffing challenges they continue to deal with.”

Gear says nurses and health-care workers at the Merritt hospital have been working to best of their abilities despite the issues that have plagued the facility for the past several months.

The union also says the lack of long-term care facilities in Merritt has led to added pressures on emergency room, which was closed 20 times last year, and twice already this year.

Gear says the closures “reflect the fact” that there is no action plan in place to retain the nurses who currently work at the Merritt hospital, while recruiting new ones to the community.

“Nurses don’t want to see patients suffer any longer. The people of Merritt deserve better health care,” Gear said.

“It’s not uncommon for the hospital’s nurse vacancy rate to hover at twice what it should be, but Interior Health has yet to provide tangible staffing solutions that will address the crisis in this community.”

Interior Health – for its part – told Radio NL last October that it is working on several nurse recruitment strategies in Merritt. That same month, Health Minister Adrian Dix announced $7.5 million in funding to address the lack of emergency room doctors in Merritt as well as Oliver, and Salmon Arm.

The series of ER closures has also led Merritt Mayor Michael Goetz to try and withhold tax revenue that goes to the province, in a bid to make up for the lack of service at the hospital.

“We’ve all been brought up in the world, where if you pay for something, you get what you pay for,” Goetz told Radio NL last month.

“To a certain degree this is a stunt. Is there a light at the end of the tunnel? I have no idea. But if I get absolutely nothing, but we end up with our hospital not closing again, then it’s a win.”