Interior Health sees increase in mental health referrals following wildfires

The Interior Health Authority has seen a "slight, but noticeable" increase in mental health referrals as a result of the worstwildfire season in B.C. in recorded history.

Rae Samson, who works with the Interior Health Authority team that oversees mental health in the region, said mental health beds throughout the Cariboo have been consistently full and the emergency department at Cariboo Memorial Hospital in Williams Lake has been inundated with mental health-related visits since September.

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There's also been an elevation in symptoms among existing mental health clients within Interior Health.

"People are on edge, their stress levels are higher, their ability to cope with day to day things goes down," Samson said.

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To cope the health authority is working to make programs more accessible and considering adding more staff.

Theunpredictability of the fire season even as late as July made this difficult to plan for.

Even now the myriad of impacts of the fires are only just being revealed, with information being gathered from First Nations, government and community groups.

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Even health authority staff were affected.

"[They] may have experienced significant losses so another piece of our work is to monitor [their]well-being," said Samson, who believes that care for the mental health of a community is vital to recovery from any disaster.