All was quiet on the ER front Monday morning; but the emergency ward at Shuswap Lake General Hospital was hopping on the weekend.
A sign posted at triage and in the waiting room advised would-be patients that the Shuswap Lake General’s emergency room was 27.5 per cent over capacity, resulting in long wait times.
“That’s very much summer in the Shuswap,” said Thompson-Cariboo–Shuswap acute care director Peter Du Toit Monday morning. “But things are back to normal.”
Du Toit agreed last week was an extremely busy one for the ER, as it almost always is after the August long weekend, when people are out enjoying the lake – something that increases the chance for accidents or overexposure to sun.
“As the town gets busy, we get busy,” he said, pointing out the reasons for going to ER are varied and that staff prepared for the increased summer activity. “We brought in an additional doctor in emerg as well as extra nurses and clerical staff.”
“I am very glad to say staff and the doctors have pulled together in terms of providing good patient care,” Du Toit said, noting visits to ER are being tracked and will be correlated in the fall – after the rush dies down.