A petition calling for action on emergency room closures at Lakes District Hospital in 亚洲天堂 Lake is gaining momentum, with over 250 signatures gathered since it began circulating on March 20.

The petition was started by Joan Mcfee and her friend Kay Saul, who say they were concerned by the frequency of ER closures and an apparent lack of action on the matter.

鈥淲e were just chatting and realizing that we have a big issue here in 亚洲天堂 Lake with the emergency room closures and the times it has been closed,鈥� Mcfee said. "What's going on?"

The closures prompted the two to organize a petition in cooperation with the Village of 亚洲天堂 Lake and the Regional District of Bulkley-Nechako. 鈥淲e didn鈥檛 want to do this in isolation,鈥� Mcfee said.

Mcfee said she contacted 亚洲天堂 Lake Mayor Henry Wiebe before starting the petition to ask whether he would support the effort.

鈥淗e, of course, is very concerned as well, and said they鈥檙e looking at a proposal,鈥� she said.

According to Mcfee, the mayor told her that the Village of 亚洲天堂 Lake plans to present concerns to the Minister of Health during an upcoming meeting in Fort St. James. Mcfee and Saul are now in the process of collecting all outstanding petition sheets to provide them to the village ahead of that meeting.

Mcfee said she has lived in the 亚洲天堂 Lake area all her life and has never seen this level of disruption in emergency services. 鈥淚鈥檝e never heard of the ER being closed,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t makes me feel, okay, something鈥檚 not working well, something鈥檚 broken, something needs to be fixed.鈥�

She said the situation has caused anxiety in the community. 鈥淚f I was to have an aneurysm or a heart condition that required emergency services, I might not make it. And that鈥檚 not a very good feeling," she said.

In response to questions about the status of physician staffing, Northern Health issued a written statement.

鈥淭wo new physicians began practicing in 亚洲天堂 Lake in late March. This has helped stabilize physician coverage for the Lakes District Hospital emergency department. However, the community is still experiencing an approximately 50 per cent vacancy rate for physician emergency department coverage,鈥� Northern Health said in the statement.

The emergency department requires one physician and one nurse to be on shift in order to remain open.

Northern Health said the two new doctors also provide more family doctor availability for the area. 鈥淩esidents in 亚洲天堂 Lake now have increased access to primary care providers 鈥� providing primary care access for patients who previously did not have a primary care provider and significantly reducing wait times to see a primary care provider in the community.鈥�

Northern Health said that recruitment efforts for physicians and nurse practitioners are ongoing and that a wide range of incentives are in place to attract staff to rural communities.