Petition demanding end to Merritt ER closures picking up steam

Merritt area residents are fed up with repeated closures at their local emergency department.

A petition launched this week has more than 1,500 signatures as of this morning, May 4, demanding Interior Health stop its intermittent closures at Nicola Valley Hospital.

There have been at least two rallies in Merritt in recent weeks, as residents expressed their frustrations with the repeated closures.

The emergency department is supposed to be open 24/7, but it's been closed at least eight times this year, between 12 and 24 hours each time.

Georgia Clement, who launched the online petition, called it unacceptable.

Merritt is at the crossroads of the Okanagan Connector and two stretches of the Coquihalla Highway, where vehicles collide frequently in winter conditions on the high elevation passes.

"The residents of Merritt must find a way to Kamloops if the ER is closed, often in treacherous winter conditions, with these highways being closed at any moment," she wrote on the petition webpage.

When Interior Health announces the closures, authority has said it's due to a lack of physicians or of nurses, depending on the day.

It's not clear if Interior Health has staffed the hospital with more doctors and nurses yet in response to the sporadic closures.

The health authority immediately available for comment.

Go here to find the online petition.

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