On the afternoon of Tuesday, February 10, Northern Health and the Tumbler Ridge Health Centre were notified of an active police response in the community, and the potential for the health centre to receive patients from the incident scene.
The Tumbler Ridge Health Centre's Emergency Department operates weekdays from 9 am to 5 pm and was fully staffed at the time of the notification. In close collaboration with BC Emergency Health Services, the site received two patients, who were treated and prepared for transfer to higher levels of care outside of our health region - one who had been assessed as being in critical condition, and another in serious to fair condition. BC EHS attended to other patients who did not require hospitalization. Additionally, the RCMP has reported that a third victim died while being transported to hospital. For patient privacy reasons, no further information on these individuals will be shared by Northern Health.
While the response was unfolding, the Tumbler Ridge Health Centre was placed on restricted access and area residents were advised to postpone any non-urgent or non-essential visits to the facility. These restrictions are no longer in place. Tonight, supports for urgent mental health needs are available at the Health Centre, which is remaining open in response to today's events - and access to the facility will be as usual when the centre opens for its regular hours on Wednesday, February 11.
Our hearts are heavy as the magnitude of the day's tragedy becomes clear. But we want to sincerely thank our health centre staff, as well as our partners in care and the RCMP, for working to ensure the care, safety and security needs of the community, including those that came into our care, were our collective priority.
Northern Health will share more information on supports available to the community and how to access those supports, in the coming days.