When illness or injury strikes those who live in or visit the Shuswap in the summer Shuswap Lake General Hospital (SLGH) can become a very busy place.
“We experience busy hospitals every summer because we do get a lot of tourists, but what we have noticed this year, certainly, is that July seemed to be quieter than a normal July, but August, I think from the beginning of the month, has become busy again,” said Peter du Toit, Interior Health’s Health Services Administrator for the Thompson/Cariboo/Shuswap.
Du Toit said the hospital and Interior Health plan additional physician coverage in the emergency room to accommodate the increased number of people coming to town.
The additional coverage is provided by Salmon Arm doctors working additional shifts in the ER.
Du Toit said because the ER is the primary visitor interface at the hospital, the extra doctors’ shifts are prioritized there.
“Over the summer we do have situations where staff get ill but plans are in place to provide proper care even in the event of staff shortages,” he said.
Du Toit said there hasn’t been any closures of areas of the hospital despite increased demand and some staff shortages in the summer months.
“In the ICU environment, we do shift things around but we always make sure there are staff available to provide care,” he said.
When asked if summer-specific ailments such as heat exhaustion played a role in increased demand for hospital services, du Toit said many kinds of illness as well as injuries resulting from playing around on the lake take up a lot of the hospital’s time.
“I think as we get probably an extra 45,000 people coming into the valley there is definitely an increase in people requiring care,” he said.
