Milk River emergency department partially or completely closed 68 days since start of year

LETHBRIDGE -

The Milk River emergency department, closed since June 12, is set to reopen on Friday.

But come Friday, it will have been partially or completely shuttered for 68 out of 174 days since the start of the year.

That's roughly 39 per cent of days having seen some sort of service disruption.

The main cause has been a lack of physician coverage.

"Health care workers, they're tired. That's what we're hearing all the time. They're burnt out. They're regularly working short-staffed or overtime shifts or not getting home on time. They can't take this forever, right?" said Chris Gallaway, executive director for Friends of Medicare.

"They've been doing this for a long time. They really need to see that there's a plan to support them.”

The Milk River emergency department, closed since June 12, is set to reopen on Friday. But come Friday, it will have been partially or completely shuttered for 68 out of 174 days since the start of the year.

Milk River isn't alone when it comes to staffing challenges.

Other emergency departments across the province have also seen closures, with rural areas being hit hardest.

"It's the story we're seeing across the province, whether it's Milk River or Bassano or Airdrie or Oyen or other communities across the province. Any given day, there's 30 or more hospitals that have temporary or ongoing closures due to short-staffing," Gallaway said.

These closures aren't just an Alberta problem, but one that's being felt across the country.

The Canadian Medical Association Journal published a report that outlines staffing challenges across Canada.

"The capacity of emergency departments to provide care has been outstripped," and it's anticipated "June to August will be precarious and exhausting months for emergency care providers," according to the report.

The government of Alberta says it's working to address health care staffing challenges.

Premier Danielle Smith believes there have already been improvements.

"We were making ambulances line up 15 to 20 deep at most of our acute care hospitals and pulling in ambulances from rural Alberta. That problem has effectively been solved and part of it was adding more resources to the emergency room to be able to offload and onboard patients," Smith said.

Alberta Health Services says they were able to recruit a physician, who has been working there since April.

Efforts are still being made to recruit a second doctor, physician's assistant and nurse practitioner.