Interior Health has reduced the emergency room hours at Slocan Community Health Centre in New Denver while it tries to get a handle on COVID-related staffing shortages.
The health authority says the emergency department has been reduced to operating from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. until further notice. Normally it is open around the clock.
Anyone needing emergency services outside of those hours will have to go to Arrow Lakes Hospital in Nakusp.
“As we manage the Omicron-driven COVID-19 staffing impacts on the health system, Interior Health is proactively identifying services to adjust and relocate in order to maintain safe patient care,” president and CEO said Susan Brown in a news release.
“We will resume normal operations in impacted communities as soon as possible and in the meantime, we are temporarily reassigning and redeploying staff to sustain essential services throughout the region.”
New Denver’s emergency room is the only facility in West Kootenay thus far affected, although other hospitals are affected in different parts of Interior Health.