Altona ER to close due to staff shortage

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 27/03/2021 (1627 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

RESIDENTS of Altona will have to travel 40 kilometres to get emergency care because of a nursing shortage at the town’s hospital.

The emergency department at Altona Community Memorial Health Centre will be shut down for at least six months, said Noreen Shirtliff, regional lead for acute care and chief nursing officer for Southern Health.

“At this time, Altona health centre is experiencing very high nursing vacancy rates, to the point where we’re just not able to continue to offer the full scope of services that the health centre has been providing,” Shirtliff explained Friday.

Altona has more than 4,000 residents.

The high vacancy rate is largely due to nurses on temporary leave, she added, but has been exacerbated by COVID-19; several nurses in the community have picked up shifts at test sites and vaccine centres, for example.

While Southern Health regularly recruits to fill nursing vacancies, Shirtliff said it’s been difficult to fill rural positions under COVID-19 restrictions. Bus tours of the region have been cancelled this year in favour of virtual options and billeting for nurses who try out a rural placement has ended.

Shirtliff said the closure is set for April. She noted a small number of nurses will return in the fall.

Altona Mayor Al Friesen said the town council shares the “real concern and deep disappointment” of community members over the ER closure.

“While we are encouraged by the hard work that has been invested by all parties in reaching a temporary solution, we will also hold Southern Health accountable to their expressed goal of returning to full 24-7 ER service in a timely manner,” Friesen said in a statement.

Friesen noted that council would work with Southern Health in the coming weeks to organize a virtual town hall for townsfolk. Still, Friesen acknowledged “the circumstances currently affecting our ER need addressing.”

Staff shortages have long been a concern at the hospital. In September 2020, as ER had short-term shutdown due to understaffing, Altona resident Tim Friesen wrote a letter to the province. The 65-year-old, who was in palliative care at the time, wrote that he heard “occasional grumbling in the hallways,” and frequent calls for help from nurses at the facility.

He expressed concern over what could have happened to him if the ER had been closed when he needed it.

The nearest emergency department is 40 kilometres away in Winkler. Tim Friesen wrote that the half-hour drive could have jeopardized his life because he had severe sepsis and a ruptured bowel.

Until emergency services return, the Altona hospital will offer urgent care and scheduled visits for community members needing regular medical care. In-patient services will not be affected.

“The emergency department in Altona is a really important part of our health system and we really are going to be working very hard over this next period of time to ensure that we are able to stabilize the workforce and re-open to the 24-7 emergency department that is required in the area,” Shirtliff said.

julia-simone.rutgers@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @jsrutgers