Kiiwetinoong MPP Sol Mamakwa is calling for the provincial government to take immediate action to prevent the temporary closure of the emergency department at the Red Lake Margaret Cochenour Memorial Hospital.
The hospital will be forced to close the emergency department for at least 24 hours over the weekend, from 8 a.m. on Saturday until 8 a.m. on Sunday, due to a doctor shortage, and could be stuck offering limited hours going forward until more doctors are recruited, said hospital CEO Sue Lebeau.
The hospital normally has a complement of seven full-time doctors, one of whom is assigned to the ER, while others perform family medicine, in-patient care, and a range of other duties, she said. It's now down to six.
The nearest hospital by land is 2.5 hours away in Dryden, Lebeau said.
It’s a situation Mamakwa called unacceptable, calling on the Ford government to send emergency aid.
“Families of Red Lake should be able to access emergency health care when they need it,” he said in a statement Friday. “If someone you loved has an accident or a heart attack this weekend, they will be hours away from the help they urgently need.”
“Ford must send staff resources to Red Lake immediately. Families in Red Lake deserve access to emergency medical care for themselves and their loved ones, whenever they need it.”
In a statement, a Ministry of Health spokesperson said the Provincial Emergency Operations Centre and the ministry were coordinating patients to be redirected to Dryden and EMS, and that air support would be provided for transfers as needed, in response to the municipality declaring an emergency Friday afternoon.
"No further requests for provincial support have been requested at this time," they stated.
The hospital had turned to Health Force Ontario for help, something the agency has a strong track record of offering in the past, Lebeau said. However, in this case, the hospital was told after a search that no resources were immediately available.
It’s the first time in at least eight years the Red Lake hospital will be forced to close its ER due to staff shortages, but Lebeau believes the region’s challenges in recruiting doctors could make it a more regular occurrence.
“We may be the first community in a long time to go through this, but I’d predict we won’t be the last ones,” she said, noting other regional hospitals have recently “come close” to finding themselves in the same situation.
She hopes issues like physician compensation models and distribution will be seriously re-examined by the provincial government to address the problem in the longer term.
Note: This article has been updated with comment from Ontario's Ministry of Health.
