There are concerns about staffing levels in the emergency department at White Rock’s Peace Arch Hospital ahead of the long weekend.

If shifts are not filled, the hospital’s ER would be forced to close and patients would be directed to Surrey Memorial Hospital.

Dr. Claudine Storness-Bliss, an OB-GYN at Surrey Memorial Hospital, and candidate for BC United in Surrey-Cloverdale, said this news shouldn’t surprise officials.

“There are many, many shifts throughout the summer in various emergency departments that were not being covered,” she said.

“In Fraser Health, we saw that last week at Mission Memorial when they shut down overnight.”

Storness-Bliss said about 165 patients on average are seen in 24 hours in the emergency room at Peace Arch Hospital.

Surrey Memorial ER department sees between 500 and 600 patients in an average of 24 hours.

A few days ago, the hospital had six necessary emergency room doctor shifts unfilled.

By offering pay bonuses and even pulling in medically trained administrators, Fraser Health Authority is trying to keep the hospital open.

“The expectation is when you go to an emergency room in this province, in the Lower Mainland, it should be open and should be staffed,” BC United MLA for Surrey-White Rock Trevor Halford told Global News.

Thousands of extra people are expected in White Rock over the long weekend to attend Sea Fest.

“The worst part is that Fraser Health and by extension the the NDP and Adrian Dix knew this was coming and they knew acutely it was coming over the last couple of months,” Storness-Bliss said.

“But they really knew over the last couple of years that something had to be done with the emergency department, and they didn’t act.”

She said all health-care professionals take on the burden of patient care and feel a sense of duty and responsibility to save lives.

“As much as we want to help, we also think, well, that’s not really our job. And in an acute crisis, we will all jump in help. But when it’s this acute crisis, day after day after day, then it’s really, it’s preventable and should have been managed ahead of time.”

B.C.’s Health Minister Adrian Dix told Global News that the ministry identifies gaps in staffing and then works to fill those gaps.

“There is no province in Canada and there are several provinces in Canada, many of which are dealing with this worse than we are right now,” he said. “We have as many incentives in place, as much recruitment in place.”

Dix said this is a “massive effort” happening in communities across the B.C.

“We are in this to make sure that people get the care they need, whether that’s in urban areas, where there hasn’t usually been that many problems… and others which are just pure staffing problems,” he added.