Following multiple emergency room closures over the Christmas holidays in the B.C. Interior, both local politicians and Interior Health agree that there needs to be a change.
The 100 Mile District General Hospital’s Emergency Room has been no stranger to frequent temporary service interruptions over the last few years. In the past few months, however, these closures have increased in length and frequency.
The most recent took place for 25 hours on Christmas Eve and for 13 hours from Dec. 26 to Dec. 27.
Karen Cooper, the executive director for clinical operations for Thompson-Cariboo-Rural, said that over the two years she’s been in the role there has been “no end” of opportunities to stabilize services in this region.
“We had a full court press first with Nicola Valley and Merritt, Lillooet, as you saw last year, and Cariboo Memorial Hospital (in Williams Lake). We need to bring that same full-court press to 100 Mile,” Cooper said. “All of those sites are in the region I support, and they all have faced very similar challenges of meeting the vacant positions both in the nursing realm and the position realm.”
These recent closures only highlight the importance of a letter Mayor Maureen Pinkney and the District of 100 Mile House sent to B.C.’s Minister of Health Josie Osborne on Tuesday, Dec. 16, requesting she provide details on how she plans to address this chronic issue. In the letter, Pinkney and the district also suggested that Osborne consider changing the number of hours Nurse Practitioners (NP) are allowed to work so they could potentially help cover some of the shortfall being experienced by the hospital.
“We met with you in late November in Victoria, and again, thank you for that meeting; it was very appreciated. We requested that the Nurse Practitioners be permitted to be open longer hours and be paid for, beyond 2 p.m.,” the district wrote in its letter. “We have not heard back, but do know that their extra hours would give the ER much-needed relief. The three NP’s here are wanting that very much as they have just celebrated opening their new clinic here in 100 Mile House.”
Pinkney said that, in addition to possibly extending the hours of NPs to take pressure off the ER, there is an opportunity get them the certification they need to be able to help cover the ER itself. She believes that utilizing this resource would help address this issue.
She also said IH has considered introducing a virtual coverage model to 100 Mile House. While Pinkney said that, based on the kind of patients the 100 Mile ER receive, she doesn’t think this would work long term in 100 Mile House, it could be a stopgap measure.
“(Interior Health) is looking at other avenues. On our end, we just have to continue to advocate that we are as important as every other hospital,” Pinkney said. “We feel we’re even more important because of the volume of residents we have compared to our actual town size, as well as the 10,000 cars a day on the highway. This is a vital hospital, and we have to make sure that we keep that emergency room open.”
As of Monday, Dec. 29, when Pinkney spoke with the 100 Mile Free Press, she said the district has yet to receive a response to their letter from Osborne. She noted she also hopes that, when a response does come, Osborne will tell her what the district can do to help fix the situation.
“Just let us know what to do, and we’ll help,” Pinkney said. “Someone has to take this very seriously and rewrite the book because this book isn’t working.”
For Cariboo-Chilcotin MLA Lorne Doerkson, the ER closures in 100 Mile House have gone beyond a point of frustration to one of anger. He noted that the closures on Christmas Eve and Boxing Day occurred during a time when people’s families were on the road in winter driving conditions.
Indeed, according to a 100 Mile House RCMP report, a crash on Dec. 26, 2025, near 103 Mile House led to a patient being sent north to the Cariboo Memorial Hospital in Williams Lake due to the local ER being closed, a journey of an hour compared to five minutes. Doerkson worries it’s only a matter of time before someone dies due to an ER closure in 100 Mile House.
“The notion we have a hospital in the South Cariboo that is unable to assist during a moment of a car accident or frankly, any accident, is appalling to me,” Doerkson remarked. “(Closures) are just happening too often. I have written to the minister repeatedly asking for steps forward.”
Doerkson noted that in the case of a stroke or another medical event that causes brain damage, minutes can be the difference between recovery and life-altering injuries. Since being elected to government, Doerkson said he has often championed the importance of rural health care and putting forward small changes, like the district’s suggestion for nurse practitioners, that could be implemented to help the situation.
“It just seems to me we can’t get any traction to make those small changes,” Doerkson said.
Cooper said IH is very grateful to 100 Mile House’s local physician group, which provides them with facility coverage for the ER and long-term care, on top of their own private practices. She admitted that IH is not at the “peak” staffing level for the area, noting they could use more physicians locally to help cover things better.
That’s why IH has come to rely on locums and travelling doctors to help fill out the hospital’s coverage schedule. However, Cooper said over the last few months, they’ve begun to notice this locum pool is becoming increasingly competitive.
“There are a few things we’re working on, including the ability to bring on locums, potentially, for different shift lengths than we currently offer right now. Our physician shifts are two 12-hour shifts a day and there are locum opportunities in other sites when they can cover a full 24 hours,” Cooper remarked. “We’re seeing we need to think about how we can be competitive, yet safe, with our coverage models.”
When asked about the district’s proposal to change the hours NPs are allowed to work, Cooper indicated general support for the idea. She noted that they are an invaluable resource for a community to access primary care.
“I support any efforts to shift the policy that holds (LPs) to working an eight-hour day. We have our physicians working 12 and 24 hours,” Cooper said.
She noted there is an opportunity to allow nurse practitioners to work longer days so they can support the people who currently come to the emergency department for more minor after-hours care. Cooper said it’s a solution she does believe would help 100 Mile House, but noted it’s a decision Osborne would have to make.
“We intend to work very closely with the nurse practitioners and the ministry to see what we can do about enabling that,” Cooper said. “I know our nurse practitioners feel they can safely work more hours than they currently are and we would love to be able to enable them.”
Doerkson also expressed frustration with what he calls a lack of concrete answers from Osborne thus far. He said he has asked her several times to lay out the steps her ministry will take to resolve the issue.
“I know it won’t be resolved tomorrow, that’s fine, but what are the answers going forth?” Doerkson said. “The ministry is run by the minister of health; it is her duty to explain to the rural residents of the South Cariboo how we’re going to move forward with this process and have an actual solution for it.”
What Doerkson, Pinkney, and Cooper all agree on is that there needs to be a change to how the 100 Mile ER is run. Cooper said there will be some more short-term pain in January regarding ER closures; however, she added that IH will be looking at new service models they can start implementing in 100 Mile House. Pinkney noted IH has told her the ER may be closed on Jan. 2 and Jan. 5, 2026.
When asked for specific examples of possible changes, Cooper demurred, noting that they are considering several options and she doesn’t want to make any promises that may not pan out. She assured the public, however, that there will be a change.
“Once we’re through the holiday season, we want to maintain that momentum on looking and chasing down all opportunities to keep services stable and reliable,” Cooper said. “It’s time to do things differently. We can’t keep doing the same things and expecting a different result. We have a lot of irons in the fire and want to see the most prudent ones come forward for success.”
Doerkson said that, in general, he believes that, at the very least, going forward, expected ER shutdowns should be announced with more notice for the public. He noted that, especially for outlying communities like South Green Lake, the drive into 100 Mile House can be long and treacherous in the winter, and that if residents know the ER will be closed, they can redirect themselves to another hospital.
“It’s not generating any happiness with these closures. I have multiple letters from people who are frustrated by these constant closures, particularly in the South Cariboo,” Doerkson remarked.
Cooper said that, regardless of the status of 100 Mile House’s ER, she always encourages anyone in need of immediate medical care to call 911 to ensure they’re transported to the nearest available facility.
When reached for comment, the Ministry of Health said that B.C. has the highest number of physicians per capita in Canada, but is experiencing the same systemic pressure many other provinces currently face. It added that ER closures and other interruptions only occur “when necessary to maintain safe, sustainable care, and are always taken as a very last resort.”
“Each day, there are hundreds of physician shifts and many hundreds or even thousands of nursing shifts required to keep emergency departments open. Less than 0.7 per cent of critical shifts go unfilled. Year-to-date, 92 per cent of emergency department shifts at risk of closure were mitigated in 2025,” the ministry stated.
The ministry added it has also partnered with health authorities, the Ministry of post secondary Education and Future Skills to retain, recruit, and train more workers for ER departments. The ministry pointed to a U.S. recruitment ad campaign they ran this summer, which resulted in 1,800 job applications from qualified U.S. health professionals, of which 174 have accepted job offers.
“To further improve recruitment, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of B.C. implemented bylaw changes on July 7, 2025, to make it easier for U.S.-trained doctors to become fully licensed in B.C., without the need for further assessment, examination, or training if they hold certain certifications,” the ministry said.