Oliver emergency room closed for 3rd time this month [Video]

The emergency department at South Okanagan General Hospital in Oliver, B.C., will be closed for 31 hours this weekend, the second such closure in a week and the third since the start of November.

While theoretically open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, the Oliver emergency room is one of several smaller facilities around the province that continue to struggle with closures.

South Okanagan General Hospital’s emergency department was also closed for several hours on Tuesday and overnight on Nov. 1 and 2.

Such closures are typically caused by a lack of available physicians or nurses, though Interior Health’s latest notice for South Okanagan General Hospital does not specify the reason for this weekend’s closure.

The health authority said in a statement Saturday morning that “temporary changes to emergency department hours” meant emergency services would be unavailable at the facility beginning at noon.

The emergency room closure will …