Latest news with #NorthernHealth
CTV News
28-05-2025
- General
- CTV News
Unprecedented': Nearly 200 ER closures in two B.C. health regions this year
There's growing worry that lives are being put at risk by the lack of emergency health care in some B.C. communities. There's growing worry that lives are being put at risk by the lack of emergency health care in some B.C. communities. There are growing concerns over lives being put at risk over the lack of emergency health care in some B.C. communities, say local health authorities. Interior and Northern Health combined have seen close to 200 temporary emergency room closures just this year. Among them, the ER at Lakes District Hospital and Health Centre in Burns Lake, which has faced 30 closures since January. 'This is unprecedented here as far as closures go,' said Village of Burns Lake Mayor Henry Wiebe. 'People are worried. The seniors especially are worried,' he explained. The next closest emergency room is an hour-and-a-half drive away in Vanderhoof. 'When we have the diversions, that puts an extra load on the Vanderhoof and Smithers ER's, which then it's just a domino effect from there,' said Wiebe, who said he recently met with B.C.'s health minister. Northern Health alone has seen 125 temporary emergency room closures this year, 38 of them at Mackenzie and District Hospital. 'Emergency department service interruptions are always a last resort, when all options to keep the ER open have failed,' Northern Health said in an email to CTV News. In Interior Heath, there's been a total of 65 closures this year, including 31 in Lillooet. And there's more expected. 'The shortage of health professionals locally, and nationally, does continue to impact a number of our emergency departments, and although we are successful at filling many vacant shifts, we do anticipate service interruptions will continue to occur,' Interior Health said in an email to CTV News. 'When we have a closed sign on the door and you have a huge distance between communities, the risk to patients is significant. So how do we keep that door open?', asked Paul Adams of the BC Rural Health Network. Adams said instead of shutting down ER's, at least for the short-term, the province should ensure there are paramedics or other healthcare workers at hospital emergency rooms. 'If it requires a reduction in the care to be provided within that place, it's better to be reduced care than no care,' Adams said. B.C.'s health minister said she's looking at both long and short-term solutions. 'We are at work right now looking at how to better address emergency room shortages in particular,' said Health Minister Josie Osborne. 'Again, I come back to the need to train and recruit more physicians, nurses, and other healthcare workers. But also looking at scopes of practise and the way people come together in emergency rooms,' she said. 'We've added two physician assistants at Saanich Peninsula Hospital over on Vancouver Island as one way of extending the services that emergency rooms can provide. We're going to continue to do everything that we can to expand that,' the minister explained. Meanwhile, Adams said the minister should review the provincial privileging system for doctors, which allows them to work in specific hospitals. He said it is duplicative and has become an obstacle for doctors who might otherwise take on additional ER shifts in rural hospitals. Emergency room closures are less frequent in the Lower Mainland, but they do happen. There have been three temporary service interruptions at Mission Memorial this year and two at Delta Hospital. 'When a physician gap is identified, we work hard until the very last moment to fill it before we implement our temporary service interruption protocol,' said an email from Fraser Health. 'Our efforts to fill shifts, and prevent emergency department service interruptions, are almost always successful,' the email read. The Ministry of Health told CTV News in an email that, 'In the first quarter of 2025, BC has seen a 26% decrease in ER closures (total hours) compared to the same period in 2024.' But for those living in communities facing ongoing closures, it certainly doesn't feel that way.
CBC
10-04-2025
- Health
- CBC
Fort St. John RCMP report 3 possible overdose deaths as new toxic drug circulates in region
Social Sharing RCMP in Fort St. John, B.C., have issued a warning after three people died of apparent overdoses in a single week. The police force says between April 3 and 9, officers "were called to the scene of three sudden deaths where the cause was believed to be consistent with an opioid overdose" in the community of approximately 21,000 people. At the same time, police say, they have come across counterfeit Oxycodone tablets containing the synthetic opioid isotonitazene, also known as sotonitazene or nitazene, which they describe "as potent or more potent than fentanyl." Created in the 1950s as potential pain relievers, the drugs were never approved for clinical use. However, they have emerged within recreational drug supplies in the United States, Canada and European countries since 2019. Scientists have relatively little information about how the human body reacts to nitazenes because the chemicals have never gone through clinical trials that offer a chance to find out. Northern Health issued a public warning about the drug, saying that while it cannot be detected by fentanyl strips, it can be treated using naloxone, though a greater dose may be needed. People who use drugs are reminded not to use alone and to have a plan in case of an overdose.
CBC
27-03-2025
- Health
- CBC
Drug that could be 'more toxic than fentanyl' being sold in northern B.C.
Northern Health is warning that a toxic drug that is "equal or more toxic than fentanyl" is being sold in northern B.C. The health authority issued the alert Thursday, saying it had tested round white pills as positive for the synthetic opioid sotonitazene or "nitazene". Created in the 1950s as potential pain relievers, they were never approved for clinical use. However, they have emerged within recreational drug supplies in the United States, Canada and European countries since 2019. Scientists have relatively little information about how the human body reacts to nitazenes because the chemicals have never gone through clinical trials that offer a chance to find out. Northern Health says the drug has been detected in pills being sold as oxycocet, a prescription pain reliever. It warns that while the drug cannot be detected by fentanyl strips, it can be treated using naloxone, though a greater dose may be needed.
