By Cheryl Jahn

Northern Health

ER updates available online

Jan 23, 2026 | 3:12 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – Prince George-Mackenzie Conservative MLA, Kiel Giddens has been sounding the alarm about health care delivery in Mackenzie for years.

“Mackenzie’s doing such a fantastic job at the hospital and health centre to do whatever they can to keep that facility open for patients where and when they need it,” he says. “But it’s a challenge. Doctors are strained, nurses are strained. And frontline workers need support.”

It’s one community in Northern Health that has seen consecutive diversion due to lack of staffing.

Now, Northern Health is hoping to alleviate the confusion around when there are emergency room diversions online.

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“Having somewhere that people can go to instead of looking at a social media site or scrolling through things on the page for easy and quick identification of whether their emergency department is in a diversion is what we were striving for,” explains Lisa Zetes-Zanatta, VP of Clinical Operations.

Unlike other health authorities, Northern Health’s online site doesn’t offer any hints as to wait times, even if the ER is open. But Northern Health says that’s tougher to nail down.

“The wait times and our volumes are quite low (in rural communities), and so that hasn’t been the focus of this website. The website, and the purpose is really for the northern challenge, as we’ve experienced in our most rural communities, which is around the availability of health care professionals.”

Giddens applauds the efforts of Northern Health to address what is often seen by users as challenging. But he would like to see the online information expanded.

“We actually have a Bill before the Legislature right now to actually give patients more information about surgical wait times as well,” he says. “So they can make health care choices on their own.”

Northern Health says the site also offers options for a range of services that may not require a trip to the emergency room.

You can access the website by clicking here.