‘Insane’: Mother struggles to access measles testing in Fort St. John amid outbreak

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — A mother has spoken out about the “insane” difficulty she experienced trying to get her son tested for measles amid an outbreak in the community. 

Fort St. John resident Alex Auger said she experienced an “absolute [expletive]show” trying to get her son tested for measles when he developed a rash after being exposed to the virus. 

As of July 17th, Northern Health accounts for 77 of the province’s 115 measles cases in 2025, with multiple public exposure alerts reported in Fort St. John. 

In a statement to Energeticcity.ca on July 18th, Northern Health explained it was “aware of this family’s situation,” apologized for the confusion and stated its communicable disease team was working with the family to “ensure access to measles testing.”

Auger – an employee of Moose Media, the parent company of Energeticcity.ca – explained her seven-year-old son “broke out in a rash” on the morning of July 18th, prompting her to call her family doctor. 

Her concerns of a measles diagnosis were heightened because she and her son were in the Fort St. John Hospital emergency department at the same time as two measles exposures in the first week of July.

“We were in the hospital all the first week of July because my mom had [a] heart attack, so we were exposed to measles,” Auger detailed. 

“So when he got that rash, that was the first thing in my head.” 

Auger’s doctor sent her to the emergency room in Fort St. John to be tested, however upon arriving, they were turned away and told to call Northern Health. 

Auger said that after an hour on the phone and a six-hour wait for a return phone call, she was sent back to the emergency department. 

“When I got back to the ER, a nurse greeted me at the door and she was very annoyed that we were there,” Auger detailed. 

“She was like, ‘you cannot come here, we have told public health to not send people here, we don’t understand why they keep sending you here.’”

Auger added she was told if they allowed her son into the emergency room, they would be required to close the room where the testing was done for two hours, and she was told to leave again. 

Northern Health acknowledged Auger’s struggles and stated it intends for measles testing to be “as easy as possible” for those to need it. 

“Northern Health is working to address the miscommunication which occurred and ensure Fort St. John residents are able to access measles testing in a clear, timely way.”

After being turned away from the emergency room and reaching back out to Northern Health over the phone, Auger was advised she would be issued a home testing kit for measles, but she would need to travel to the Fort St. John Hospital laboratory to collect it herself.

Upon arriving, she said she was informed by staff that they “didn’t know what she was talking about.” 

“They did not have the measles kit ready, the nurses said they had no idea what I was talking about,” Auger said. 

“They said they didn’t do the measles kits there, that they’d had no clue.” 

While it was past the evening closing time for the virtual clinic, Auger was able to reach the public health nurse who had been directing her throughout the day, who called the lab to get the testing kit. 

“I just had to sit there for like, 20 minutes, and then some lady came running out from another end of the hospital and was like, ‘oh I’m so sorry, I thought they would have it ready for you,” Auger said.

Auger did eventually receive the kit and conduct the test, and is now waiting for the results to come back. 

She explained to Energeticcity.ca her son’s rash is already improving. But while she is optimistic the test will return negative, Auger expressed frustration about the struggle, time and effort it took to get it and questioned why a system had not been put in place for the health authority with the most measles cases reported so far during the outbreak.

“The public health nurse was very good and responsive, and every time I called her…she was on top of it and would be calling around for me, but I was shocked that she didn’t know where [to tell me] to go,” Auger said.  

“The thing that was just insane to me was the fact that there is an epidemic around town, you would think the testing would be a lot more of a straightforward process.

“I didn’t think I was going to be sent all over the city like that, on hold for hours…I thought they would have had something in place to get kids tested,” Auger said. 

In its statement, Northern Health encouraged residents concerned about measles to call the Northern Health Virtual Clinic at 1-844-645-7811.

“If there are any changes to the process for patients to receive measles testing in the community, Northern Health will communicate those changes to the public,” the health authority said.

Symptoms of measles include a fever, cough, runny nose and red, inflamed eyes that are sensitive to light and a rash which typically appears on the face and neck before spreading to the chest, arms and legs.