{"id":646803,"date":"2026-05-04T08:32:41","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T08:32:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/646803\/"},"modified":"2026-05-04T08:32:41","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T08:32:41","slug":"virtual-doctors-being-explored-as-option-for-overnight-emergency-care-in-tumbler-ridge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/646803\/","title":{"rendered":"Virtual doctors being explored as option for overnight emergency care in Tumbler Ridge"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Text<\/p>\n

Listen to this article<\/p>\n

Estimated 3 minutes<\/p>\n

The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.<\/p>\n

Virtual doctors are one of several options that are being examined to provide overnight emergency care in Tumbler Ridge, B.C.<\/p>\n

The lack of overnight care has been top of mind for many residents ever since Northern Health announced on-call hours for physicians in the community would be scaled back last September.<\/p>\n

While on-call doctors had previously provided 24\/7 coverage for the community of approximately 2,400 people, those services are currently only provided between 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. MT. Anyone needing services overnight are required to travel to either Dawson Creek of Chetwynd, both about 100 kilometres away by road.<\/p>\n

The reduction in service has prompted hundreds of people to take to the streets<\/a> in protest and it has been a top priority for mayor and council, even as the community navigates the impacts of a mass shooting in February.<\/p>\n

Now, a joint statement from Northern Health and the District of Tumbler Ridge indicates the two parties have come to an agreement to find a new way forward for overnight care that doesn’t require on-call physicians in the community at all times, but still provides consistent coverage.<\/p>\n

Described as a “consensus on a way forward,” the statement does not go into detail about what that coverage will look like, but says both sides have to recognize “concerns over how emergency health-care services are accessed overnight, while also acknowledging the necessity for change in light of recruitment and retention challenges.”<\/p>\n

Alternatives to in-person, on-call services being explored, the statement says, include the use of virtual care, connecting doctors from other communities to patients in Tumbler Ridge.<\/p>\n

A virtual doctor pilot project is currently underway at several rural and remote emergency rooms in B.C.’s Interior<\/a>, with doctors at hospitals in Nakusp, Princeton, Clearwater and Lillooet sharing responsibilities for overnight care by having a single emergency physician working physically in one location and virtually at the other three.<\/p>\n

\"AThe community health centre for Tumbler Ridge, B.C., a UNESCO Global Geopark in northeast B.C. on Sept. 25, 2025. (Andrew Kurjata\/CBC)<\/p>\n

Northern Health CEO Ciro Panessa said not requiring doctors in Tumbler Ridge to be on-call 24\/7 would help ease the burden on the already overworked physicians.<\/p>\n

“What ended up happening [under the previous system] is you’d have a very small number of overnight calls that would require a lot of in-person resourcing,” he said in an interview. “And that would really limit our ability to provide stable, consistent primary and community care services [during the day], and it would certainly cause challenges.”<\/p>\n

Panessa said the purpose of the announcement was to signal that Northern Health and the District of Tumbler Ridge are working together collaboratively on a solution and would be providing joint updates moving forward.<\/p>\n

Tumbler Ridge Mayor Darryl Krakowka was not immediately available for an interview but said in a statement that he expects more announcements to come in the future.<\/p>\n

Subscribe to CBC\u2019s Fort St. John Weekly<\/a> for a round-up of the best news and stories from B.C.\u2019s Peace and Northern Rockies.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 3 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":646804,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[49,48,84,392],"class_list":["post-646803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-health","tag-healthcare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=646803"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646803\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/646804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=646803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=646803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=646803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}