Northern Health fails to notify Dawson Creek residents of ER closure, MLA Bernier outraged

DAWSON CREEK, B.C. — Northern Health failed to notify residents of an Emergency Department closure in Dawson Creek this week, and Peace River South MLA Mike Bernier says the health authority’s reasoning is “absolutely astonishing.”

Residents began taking to social media on Wednesday, July 3rd, saying the hospital’s emergency department was closed the prior evening with no public notice shared anywhere.

A Northern Health staffer confirmed the closure in a comment on social media, saying no one was available to share the information publicly.

“Our communications team tries to inform our communities of upcoming service interruptions as soon as that info becomes available,” they said.

“In instances like [the evening of July 2nd] there was no one available to post in the Facebook group after hours.”

The staffer went on to say that partners in patient transfer and local health services are always notified in the event of a closure, and signage is placed at the facility telling patients to call 911 for transport to the nearest open emergency department.

MLA Bernier, who found out about the closure when he took his child to the hospital that night, expressed frustration towards Northern Health on social media and in statements provided to Energeticcity.ca.

“It’s absolutely is astonishing in today’s day that someone is not available in Northern Health to put out a public notification in real-time when a closure takes place,” Bernier told Energeticcity.

“We should be looking at everything possible to avoid a closure to begin with and every tool available to notify the community if it has to happen. Northern Health has no excuse for poor communication and frankly is dropping the ball again.”

Bernier went on to say that if Northern Health notified him of the closure personally, as members of its management team used to in years past, he’d have made a Facebook post in “two minutes,” regardless of when he was notified.

“To say no one was available to make a Facebook post because it was after hours is a crock,” he added.

According to Bernier, he hasn’t been personally contacted to help spread the word about closures in “a few years,” despite his requests.

“At this point though, they would be needing to call me almost every day for one of our hospitals,” he said, referencing the frequent emergency department diversions in communities like Chetwynd.

He also said responses from the Minister of Health Adrian Dix and his office have been limited to “press release style comments that they are aware of the problem.”

“I have watched our health system deteriorate in the Peace region since the NDP got into government and seem to flat out ignore our comments when I bring them to Victoria,” Bernier said.

Energeticcity contacted Northern Health and the Ministry of Health for comment. Neither the ministry nor the health authority responded in time for publication.