FILE PHOTO

Image Credit: Interior Health

Over the past 11 months, the Nicola Valley Hospital has been closed 15 times as it faces ongoing staffing shortages. The mayor of Merritt is fed up.

Mayor Mike Goetz is proposing the city withhold hospital taxes in response to the ongoing crisis that puts people in the area at risk and places an extra workload on both paramedics and firefighters.

"When we make that calculation at the end of the year, we will be taking back... whatever it is at the end of the year that we didn't get service, because I'm a firm believer that we shouldn't be paying for something that we didn't get," he said.

READ MORE: The Bluff on WFN land could rival Tolko mill site as next huge development

The total, likely from the hospital taxes included in annual property taxes, isn't yet clear. Goetz expects to be told it's something Merritt cannot withhold, but he likened the move to the provincial government's recent decision to penalize BC Ferries for missed sailings.

The hospital has been faced with ongoing last-minute closures for months, often due to a lack of nurses. Residents in Merritt and the surrounding area are frustrated, he said.

"You don't want to have your golden hour sitting in the back of an ambulance trying to get you to a hospital in Kamloops or Kelowna," he said.

Goetz said he's been working with health minister Adrian Dix and Merritt council is set to start meeting with Interior Health regularly as they address the needs and issues for each. Until the closures wane, Merritt is taking action by withholding funds.

"When our hospital goes down, our ambulances are almost immediately hauling people out of town," Goetz said. "Then the medical calls start going to the fire department."

READ MORE: Pressure builds for review of mine expansion that may threaten Similkameen River

Merritt firefighters are on-call and often have full time jobs. They're facing an increased workload as they respond to medical calls while paramedics are either unavailable or rushing from other communities. He's tasked the Merritt fire chief with tallying up medical calls so the community can send a bill to the province.

It's one of a few small communities facing periodic hospital closures across the Interior Health region, including Oliver, New Denver and Keremeos. Goetz said he will consider approaching mayors of the other communities with his suggestion to withhold fees, but Oliver is unlikely to join.

Closures at Oliver's South Okanagan General Hospital were largely due to a lack of physicians, rather than nurses.

Mayor Martin Johansen is hopeful emergency department closures will dwindle as the health ministry finalizes a new contract with emergency doctors there.

"This will go a long way to providing some stability," he said.

The hospital previously ran on a fee-for-service model in which doctors would be paid for each patient they saw. Johansen said the new deal, set in motion last month, will have doctors paid for each shift, making the hospital more competitive with others in the area like Penticton.

"We're not out of the woods on this. There's all kinds of challenges ahead, but this is one piece of the puzzle, I think, that's going to provide the glue to hold a lot of things together," Johansen said.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Levi Landry or call 250-819-3723 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.

We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above. SUBSCRIBE to our awesome newsletter here.

News from © iNFOnews, 2023