UPDATE: Merritt ER avoids Friday night closure with last-minute replacement

(UPDATE: Oct. 12 @ 7:30 am) - After a Friday evening announcement shared that the emergency department at Nicola Valley Hospital would close overnight, Interior Health secured nursing coverage and avoided having to close the ER in Merritt.

(Original story: Oct. 11 @ 4:32 pm) -A hospital in the BC interior will be without an emergency department Friday night.

Interior Health announced that Merritt and area residents will need to travel to Kamloops for emergency care while the emergency department at the Nicola Valley Hospital is closed.

That is about a 50-minute drive north.

The closure will start at 6 pm on Friday and is expected to end at 8 am on Saturday.

Normally, the hospital emergency department is open 24/7, however, Interior Health says there is a lack of “nursing availability.”

All other services will continue as normal.

“People in the community who need life-threatening emergency care (i.e., chest pains, difficulty breathing, severe bleeding) should always call 911 for transport to the nearest available and appropriate facility,” the health authority said in a news release Friday afternoon.

This is the first closure the emergency department has faced in October.

Last month, the emergency department was closed three times on Sept. 22, 28 and 29.

In August it faced about five closures.

Before that, between January 1 and July 31, the emergency department was closed eight items.