Mission, B.C. residents demand urgent action amid persistent ER closures
CBC
Mission resident Leanne Smythe says it's frightening to think about what could happen if people can't rely on the emergency room at Mission Memorial Hospital.
She had to take her kids there when they were growing up, but she fears for people who take their children to the ER and cannot get the healthcare they need.
Smythe was one of dozens of local residents, health-care workers and local leaders rallying in the rain outside the hospital on Saturday, calling for the Fraser Health Authority to take immediate action to prevent further overnight emergency room closures.
Last Sunday, the ER closed to new patients between 5 p.m. and 8 a.m. Monday to ensure everyone already in the department could be seen by a doctor before their shift ended at 11 p.m. PT.
It was the sixth time this year doctor shortages have affected Mission Memorial's emergency department — a problem that has been plaguing hospitals across the province.
"If we don’t get off the couch and get out, the government has a reason to ignore us,” Smythe said.
Many of the demonstrators carried signs reading “Mission Matters” and “Health Care Matters,” demanding Fraser Health increase staffing support, restore full-time service and improve transparency around closures.
Abbotsford–Mission MLA Reann Gasper, who organized the rally, says the provincial government needs to get its "act together."
"Do something that the people in this community can actually feel the change,” she told the crowd.
Mission Memorial’s medical director, Dr. Paul Theron, told CBC News the closures are the result of overlapping pressures, including a physical emergency department that’s still recovering from serious damage.
“Part of the problem dates back to when our ER had an unexpected flood in January of 2024,” he said.
The department was forced to move into a former endoscopy preparation and recovery area elsewhere in the hospital, a space he calls “very much not fit for purpose.”
“That led to an exodus of some of our permanent physician staff, who felt that they weren’t practicing in a safe environment,” he said.
Renovations are underway.
An N.W.T. MLA says the territory needs to fiercely protect treaty rights and territorial waters, amid Alberta’s merger of two major river basins, and the proposed treatment and release of oilsands tailings into the environment.
The Supreme Court of Canada will hear arguments against the Liberal government's deeply controversial decision to outlaw certain firearms.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is rejecting Opposition accusations of entitlement for using a private jet last fall courtesy of the Saudi government.
Newfoundland and Labrador’s department of Transportation and Infrastructure is promising policy changes after a Conception Bay South family spoke out about the expropriation and resale of the land where their home once stood.
Nova Scotia’s seniors and long-term care minister is calling on administrators at nursing homes to make direct appeals to their employees amidst protracted contract talks with the union representing workers at more than 50 sites.
A pair of Saint John poverty researchers have told N.B. Power's rate hearing that rising electricity prices are a serious affordability problem for low-income households and the utility or provincial government should match programs in place elsewhere that would help.
Lawyers for a man acquitted in a high-profile Toronto murder trial where a police officer was killed are holding a news conference Thursday to address a recent Ontario Provincial Police report that re-examines evidence from the trial.
Quebec provincial police arrested two men after a suspicious package grounded flights headed to Montreal's Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport on Wednesday.
A nurse in Winnipeg says Canada's immigration system is undercutting efforts to address a shortage of health-care workers, after his application for permanent residency was rejected based on a technicality.
This year's provincial budget is "essentially" the status quo for wildfire preparation and response, the finance minister says.
Parts of B.C.'s coast continues to see heavy rain as Environment and Climate Change Canada warns of a prolonged atmospheric river this week.
Alberta teachers say they face increasingly dangerous conditions at school, with the most common threat coming from their own students.
Cataract surgeries at Charlottetown’s outpatient clinic are expected to resume in April, after procedures scheduled for March were cancelled due to the clinic reaching its annual funding target earlier than expected.