A petition calling for action on closures of the emergency department at Lakes District Hospital and Health Centre in Burns Lake gained over 650 signatures.
The Lakes District News previously reported an initial count of 250 signatures, but organizers were still in the process of gathering up petition forms at that time. Now, with the full total counted, pressure is mounting on Provincial leaders to address the doctor shortage in rural areas of B.C.
The petition was organized while the emergency department was frequently closed due to a lack of emergency room doctors. Two new doctors began practicing in Burns Lake on April 1 which Northern Health said would ease emergency room closures. While emergency room closures have indeed seemed to stop since the new doctors arrived, with Northern Health posting only two closure notices both in the first week of April, Northern Health has said the hospital is still not staffed to capacity.
Organizers forwarded the petition to the Village of Burns Lake mayor Henry Wiebe, who said he and council are planning to present the petition to B.C.'s health minister at an upcoming meeting.
Joan McFee, one of the organizers of the petition, previously told the Lakes District News that she has lived in the Burns Lake area all her life and has never seen this level of disruption in emergency services. “I’ve never heard of the ER being closed,” she said. “It makes me feel, okay, something’s not working well, something’s broken, something needs to be fixed.”
She said the situation has caused anxiety in the community. “If I was to have an aneurysm or a heart condition that required emergency services, I might not make it. And that’s not a very good feeling," she said.
The Village of Burns Lake recently hired a new healthcare recruitment coordinator—a newly-created position with the objective of recruiting physicians to Burns Lake and convincing them to stay. The position was also funded by the Regional District of Bulkley Nechako, the Northern Interior Rural Division of Family Practice, and Northern Health.
Teri Cutsforth, the new recruitment coordinator, said she had a chance to welcome the two new doctors to the community and help them get settled in.
Born and raised in Burns Lake, Cutsforth previously told the Lakes District News she is highly motivated to serve her community.
"You want dependable care for and good care for your loved ones, for you, if there's a crisis," she said. "I feel highly motivated just by the entire community, to make sure that we can provide that [care]."
