Clearwater residents and the District of Clearwater mayor and council are singing the praises of the hard-working team of Interior Health medical professionals at Dr. Helmcken Memorial Hospital.
“It takes a village,” said, mayor of Clearwater, Merlin Blackwell, “Our hospital has an exceptional team in every department and along with the community as a whole, everyone was determined to put an end to multiple Emergency Room closures. We are so proud of the dedication of the Dr. Helmcken Memorial team and their dedicated service to the area during challenging times. This award is a testatment to them.”
The team is receiving some well-deserved recognition by Health Quality B.C. (formerly B.C. Patient Safety and Quality Council) as a winner in leadership for their collective efforts to keep the hospital open during the challenging circumstances of the pandemic period when many rural hospital emergency departments were facing multiple closures in the province.
Heidi Schilling Manager, clinical operations for Clearwater and Blue River, will be attending the Health Quality B.C. (HQBC) awards ceremony in Vancouver on April 23.
”I’m pleased to share that our team has won Health Quality B.C.’s 2024 Quality Award Excellence in Quality: Leadership in Co-Creating Health with Communities. Our work to collaborate care with the community of Clearwater clearly demonstrates the exemplary achievements of our team to support high quality care in our hospital.”
Between April and September of 2022, Dr. Helmcken Memorial closed its emergency department approximately 60 times due to nursing staff shortages. Seeking viable solutions to address this, a working collaboration lead by Interior Health, the district of Clearwater, administrative health advisors, residents, hospital support staff, physicians, nurses, Simpcw First Nations partners and the Rural and Remote Division of Family Practice collectively worked on a new plan focused on keeping the ER open at the Clearwater hospital.
Mayor Blackwell said everyone had to work together on attracting qualified staff and keeping them. Another key element for success was the involvement of residents willing to assist in finding housing for new recruits while promoting the quality of life in the area. Blackwell said the efforts brought Clearwater from almost 60 closures in one year to only a couple of closures in the year and a half following.
“We asked our community to be patient with hospital staff during a difficult time, assuring them we were all working hard to find solutions together. Everyone involved should feel very proud of our hospital team receiving such a well-deserved award.”
Dr. Helmcken manager, Schilling said a series of initiatives were implemented at the site that changed the trajectory of the ongoing recruitment challenges and repeated closures of our ER.
“Closures at our hospital mean that the population in the North Thompson Valley must access services at Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops,” said Schilling. “Impacts include increased pressure on the RIH Emergency Department as well patients having to travel upwards of two hours to access emergency care. Communications and engagement were initiated with the community to leverage awareness and support regarding recruitment, housing, childcare, and career development strategies.”
Schilling says a new staffing model was implemented with additional support of the Professional Practice Office which also included one ED trained RN and medical/surgical RN (non-ED trained) as well as offering ongoing clinical education opportunities being implemented to “ensure long-term success.”
“Together we were able to deepen organizational partnerships, address housing shortages for health providers, re-frame the staffing model for nurses within the hospital and engage physicians with the community of Clearwater. The impacts of these collective efforts are demonstrated in the results to date. Since implementing these co-developed solutions in August 2022, the hospital has had to suspend the emergency department services only twice.”
Mayor Blackwell added it’s reassuring to see health services stabilized in the area which wouldn’t have happened without everyone collaborating together and the hard work of such a dedicated hospital team.
“Congratulations to everyone involved.”
