Health Minister Adrian Dix visited the Prince Rupert Regional Hospital during a Northwest trip on March 26 after a string of emergency room closures that has caused great concern in the city.

The emergency room has been closed eight times since the beginning of March due to physician shortages in a community that is 140 kilometres from the nearest emergency room in Terrace.

Renovations to Prince Rupert鈥檚 emergency room began on March 1 and should finish by May next year according to the Ministry of Health, which said the department will be expanded to 鈥渋mprove flow in a modern environment.鈥�

Dix said the ministry is working to improve recruitment in the Northern Health Region where more than 130 positions are currently vacant in Prince Rupert alone.

鈥淲e have to address recruitment issues here. We have to address cultural issues here so that people are working together and we have to make sure that this emergency room is open to people 24/7,鈥� he said.

鈥淚鈥檓 frustrated too. We want the emergency room open, we鈥檙e going to do everything we can to work with everybody here to make sure it is, and that this situation, this uncertainty, is not long-lived.鈥�

Northern Health has told The Northern View that an unconfirmed number of physicians will be leaving the area soon, with rumours of as many as eight physicians departing.

North Coast MLA and parliamentary secretary for rural health Jennifer Rice, who lives in Prince Rupert, who was alongside Dix on March 26, confirmed her family physician was also leaving the region with no replacement.

Chief ambulance officer at BC Emergency Health Services (BCEHS) Leanne Heppell was also in Prince Rupert after additional paramedic crews were brought to the city amid the emergency room challenges.

The crews 鈥� which Heppell and Dix heaped praise on for their work 鈥� include critical care and advanced care paramedics who are able to triage and stabilize patients before transporting them to the nearest appropriate facility.

鈥淲别鈥檝别 had this overwhelming response of paramedics across the province wanting to come to Prince Rupert to help,鈥� said Rice. 鈥淎nd so I couldn鈥檛 be more proud of the team, but it is very difficult for the team when they can鈥檛 respond as fast as they would like to.鈥�

The renovations to the emergency room will help with long-term recruitment efforts, according to Dix.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not important today or tomorrow that we鈥檙e building a new emergency room, but it is also the kind of tool we need for recruitment. The emergency room has to be better, and that鈥檚 why we鈥檙e spending 16.5 million on that,鈥� he said.

鈥淲hen you want to recruit people it鈥檚 not essential to have a new hospital, but it鈥檚 better. It鈥檚 not essential to have a new emergency department, but it鈥檚 better.鈥�

The ministry will soon be updating the payment scheme for how emergency rooms are now staffed, according to Dix.

鈥淲e frequently pay people who work emergency rooms overnight through fee for service in some ways. Well, there may not be enough patients overnight to make that worthwhile. So we鈥檙e shifting to what are called alternative payment plans, but are really salary contracts where you鈥檙e paying people for the shift and not for the patients,鈥� Dix said.

鈥淲e have historically had emergency rooms that have been staffed by family doctors in the region 鈥� and that contract in a number of communities is no longer working. We can鈥檛 pretend that we can go back to some time in the past, we have to create a permanent solution.鈥�

Dix touted the province鈥檚 recruitment successes in what he said was a 鈥渞ecord year,鈥� though he acknowledged the ministry鈥檚 achievements may not be celebrated on the North Coast.

鈥淧eople here don鈥檛 care 鈥� and they鈥檙e right not to care 鈥� whether we鈥檙e doing better than Sudbury or Toronto or New Brunswick, they care about what鈥檚 happening here,鈥� he said.

Prince Rupert city council met with Dix during his trip to the North Coast after Mayor Herb Pond delivered a 鈥渟trongly worded鈥� letter to the minister regarding the concerning emergency room challenges.

Dix was in the region to announce funding for construction of the Dementia House in Kitimat where there have also been a concerning number of emergency room closures.

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