Residents in rural and northern Manitoba concerned, scared amid ongoing ER staffing challenges

Residents, a municipal leader and a union president are speaking out about health-care staffing shortages in two communities in rural and northern Manitoba that they worry are impacting life-saving services in emergency departments.

Cole Nickell, a resident of Roblin, Man., about 180 kilometres northwest of Brandon, wrote to Premier Wab Kinew and MLAs on Sunday after he saw Prairie Mountain Health post the scheduled hours of service for emergency departments in western Manitoba on its website for the next month.

It shows the ER at the Roblin District Health Centre will be closed some days or only open for limited hours on others, meaning residents may have to travel to nearby communities for care.

Nickell said he's concerned about what would happen if the ER is closed and someone has to make a 30- to 40-minute trip, either on their own or by ambulance.

"It just scares me … the potential of what could happen if me or some of my friends or family can't get to the ER immediately," he said in a Tuesday interview.

Other communities in the health region are also dealing with ER closures or reduced hours. In northern Manitoba, the head of the Manitoba Nurses Union said she's heard from members in Thompson who say they're seeing an increase in highly acute and critical patients in a hospital with a shortage of ER nurses.

"It's getting busier all the time," Darlene Jackson said. "There's facilities in the north that really don't have a functioning ER right now, so those facilities automatically send their patients into Thompson."

"Thompson and The Pas both have a huge catchment area, and they see patients from all over the north. We still have COVID out there. We now have the flu and RSV, respiratory illnesses are increasing."

Leaf Rapids resident Lianna Anderson said people in her community can access ER services in Lynn Lake, which is about an hour-long drive away, or go to Thompson, which can take anywhere from two-and-a-half to three hours depending on road conditions.

"It's huge for all of us, because it impacts everybody and everything," Anderson said.

"It impacts the workforce within our communities, within the surrounding areas and it also impacts the nurses. If there is a shortage it ends up impacting those that are showing up for work. They're getting burnt out."

In a Wednesday statement emailed to CBC, a spokesperson for the Northern Health Region said emergency department patient volumes were up this past December compared to December 2022, but the number of admissions via the ER has remained stable.

Northern incentives 'not adequate anymore': union

In an earlier statement, the health region said it's working to address staffing challenges.

Thompson General Hospital currently has 56 full-time equivalent nursing positions vacant, a health authority spokesperson said.

Agency and Shared Health travel nurses are filling the shifts, according to the health region. But during Christmas there were limited agency and travel nurses available to fill shifts.

The health region's "executive team has been working continuously towards new innovative recruitment strategies," the spokesperson said.

Jobs are posted on the Northern Health website, social media and websites, including Success Factors and LinkedIn, which promote a newly created Shared Health Travel Nurse program.

The health region also participates in provincial recruitment efforts, the spokesperson said. 

It advertises up to $11,000 in isolation and retention allowance for qualifying positions, remoteness allowance, northern pay scales and 20 vacation days.

Despite that, Jackson said recruitment and retention continue to be major challenges for northern communities. She'd like to see more incentives.

"It's just not adequate anymore," Jackson said. "We're not competitive with other provinces.… You can go to northern Newfoundland and get $25 an hour on top of your salary," she said.

"We really have to get competitive with these other provinces that are offering these big incentives."

'A tough slog'

Robert Misko, head of council for the Municipality of Roblin, said there are incentives for health professionals to work in the western Manitoba community, but he feels there aren't enough trained people to take advantage of the offers.

Attracting doctors has been one of the community's biggest concerns, he said.

"We keep trying and we keep looking at whatever means and ways we can, but it's a tough slog because there just doesn't seem to be enough people out there to do the jobs that we need done," Misko said. 

Planned closures or reduced hours have been an ongoing concern in the community, especially over the past three years, he said. The municipality has been working with Prairie Mountain Health to attract doctors, nurses and allied health staff.

"It's a slow process and it's tough to get people.… We're fully aware that it's kind of a rotating emergency, and that's the thing we don't want as a community, because it makes it very difficult for people to predict," he said.

"Nobody wants to go to emergency, but they sure don't want to go to emergency and find out it's not open today."

Nickell hopes his letter helps raise awareness about health-care staffing challenges in Roblin and beyond.

"I definitely think that all of Manitoba needs to rally together behind this issue because ultimately lives are at stake," Nickell said.