Health care workers say virtual ERs can fill in some gaps, but don’t make up for doctor shortage

Brydon Blacklaws is an emergency physician in Powell River, B.C., and co-lead of two virtual emergency-support programs. He says many visitors to small-town ERs at night can be treated by a nurse with the support of a remote doctor.

Michael Tiller, the mayor of the Newfoundland town of New-Wes-Valley, is thankful the doors of his community’s only emergency room have largely stayed open through the national health care staffing crisis of the past few years.

He just wishes there was a doctor behind those doors more often.

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