ROTHENBURGER: Nothing like a night in ER to make us appreciate health care

IF YOU HAPPENED to spend the night on a gurney in the Emergency Department hallway recently, you would have gotten a pretty good idea of the challenges faced by our healthcare workers 24/7.

The first clue about how busy the ER is after midnight would be the fact that you’re in the hallway. It means there are no beds available in the ER proper.

Never mind. The hallway is a good place to get a picture of what hospital staff go through on the graveyard shift.

This is when the broken bones, alcohol poisonings and overdoses join the usual menu of chest pains, headaches and fevers.

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Mel Rothenburger is a former mayor of Kamloops, former school board chair, former editor of The Kamloops Daily News, and a current director on the Thompson-Nicola Regional District board. He was awarded the Jack Webster Foundation’s lifetime achievement award in 2011 and was a 2019 Commentator of the Year finalist in the Webster Awards. His editorials are published Monday through Thursdays, and Saturdays on CFJC Today, CFJC Midday and CFJC Evening News. Contact him at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.