A new Vernon mom wants other expectant mothers to be aware of staffing shortages at Vernon Jubilee Hospital, particularly on the weekends, after shortages in the maternity ward forced her to travel to Penticton while in active labour.

Kristen, who preferred not to give her last name, gave birth to her first child on a Saturday in August. She and her husband went to the Vernon hospital in the late afternoon after 14 hours of labour at home. 

However, upon arrival they were told they couldn't stay, because there weren't enough nurses in the maternity ward to safely deliver the baby.

"Neither our midwife or us knew that there was not enough staff until we got there," she said.

Kristen said they would have kept her at the Vernon hospital if she was imminently having her baby, but because she wasn't that far along they told her she would have to be diverted to another hospital. 

Staff tried to transfer her to hospitals in Kelowna, Salmon Arm and Kamloops, but Kristen said all were too short staffed or full.

It took two hours to determine that she would need to be transferred to the Penticton hospital, which then required a two-hour ambulance ride while she was in active labour. 

"Then the process of getting admitted into hospital there and waiting for my husband to arrive and get settled. My labour did not process at all during this time. I can comfortably say I laboured for at least five-plus hours unnecessarily because of this diversion," she said. "I think any person who has been in labour would not want to be in labour for hours more unnecessarily because of bureaucracy."

Kristen said she understands it's routine to have to travel for care in more remote areas of B.C., but she was not prepared to travel given she lives within an hour of three hospitals that have maternal care. 

"It's so disappointing that health care is having staffing issues resulting in poorer care and additional costs to the system," she said.

Chris Simms, Interior Health's North Okanagan executive director of clinical operations, confirmed that the health authority is experiencing staffing challenges, particularly in specialized fields such as obstetrics (pregnancy care). 

"This has meant that some patients have needed to travel to other facilities such as Penticton, Kelowna, Salmon Arm, or Kamloops for care," Simms said in an email. He did not say how frequent these diversions have been. 

"Interior Health understands the anxiety and frustration that can come with having to travel for maternity care, especially during such an important time as childbirth. We regret any inconvenience caused by these temporary service interruptions 91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ“ our priority is the safety of expectant parents and babies when these do happen," he added.

Simms said Interior Health looks at the closest alternatives when having to divert patients during service interruptions.

He added Interior Health is doing "everything we can to stabilize and improve access to obstetric care in Vernon and the surrounding areas."

All expectant families are still asked to present at Vernon Jubilee Hospital when needing urgent care so they can be triaged.