Interior Health says its working as quickly as it can to try to fill a number of nursing vacancies in Clearwater, which has prompted concern about an uptick in E-R closures this summer.
“We know the history a couple of years back where we had, I think, over 60 closures. Then we really did improve that by working together with our municipal partners, particularly Mayor [Merlin] Blackwell to remove some of the barriers to attracting and hiring nurses to the region,” said Interior Health’s Executive Director of Clinical Operations for the Thompson-Cariboo, Karen Cooper, in an interview with Radio NL about the situation.
Cooper says they need to fill a “handful” of nursing positions at Dr. Helmcken Memorial in Clearwater to get them up to levels where Emergency Room closures won’t be as great a threat.
“While you’re recruiting, so are many, many other sites,” noted Cooper. “One of the things we know is going to help that was announced in April is the Rural and Remote Incentive to both not only recruit new nurses to rural communities like Clearwater, but also to support them to stay.”
That incentive program is a $20,000 signing bonus for nurses in Interior Health.
However, that same provincial program also provides $30,000 for those who sign in Northern Health, and $15,000 for those who sign up in urban and metro communities, such as Kamloops.
Cooper does say I-H is taking its own approach through its human resources teams to try to tailor positions in places like Clearwater that might be more attractive.
“Maybe in the past, everybody wanted full time jobs and consistent hours. We know now that us being flexible in what we offer puts us in a competitive place to attract the new staff that we want to see.”
Cooper says she’s also going to be sitting down with the Thompson Rivers University School of Nursing to figure out the level of enrollment, and whether it is going to help meet demand.
But at the same time, she concedes there is a likelihood of more ER shutdowns moving into the summer as staff take vacation, but says they’re doing their best to try to mitigate the situation.
“Part of the driver of shortages is, of course, it’s the prime time of year when our staff want to take their vacations, and potentially are less likely to pick up the call-outs,” noted Cooper. “[We are] working very hard with our provincial partners on increasing the amount of [travel nurse] agencies that are on our list for approval to use, as well as a provincial strategy to have these rapid deployment teams.”
The concern about ER shutdowns comes amid a move by a number of nurses to leave Dr. Helmcken Memorial recently for more lucrative opportunities elsewhere.
So far this spring, the emergency room at Dr. Helmcken Memorial in Clear water has been shut down twice, the first on May 21st, and the next one less than three weeks later on June 8th.
The nursing situation has led to Clearwater Mayor Merlin Blackwell warning of the possibility of rotating ER closures in his community through the summer.
