Saskatoon’s board of police commissioners is calling for support from the provincial government, saying there is an urgent need for facilities and supports for people with complex needs.
The matter will be discussed during Thursday’s board of police commissioners meeting, along with the response the board received from the province.
A letter was sent from the board on June 8 to Minister of Health Paul Merriman, Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Everett Hindley and Minister of Social Services Gene Makowsky, noting a 2022 annual report showed a concerning trend in the city.
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“In 2022, calls for outreach assistance surpassed all other calls for service. Outreach requests include housing issues, wellbeing checks, counselling, public safety, mental health, and medical assistance,” the letter read.
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It said the Community Support Program (CSP) has seen a “significant increase” in the number of people sleeping in encampments, parks, building vestibules and public sidewalks.
The CSP is made up of five community support officers and one supervisor, but the letter said 14 per cent of the total calls (which was 2,630 calls involving 3,105 people) required the help of the Saskatoon Police Service.
The board said police resources are being used to address complex needs, but officers often don’t have any place to take people and end up releasing these people back into the community without any support.
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It recognized that there are discussions underway between the City of Saskatoon and the province to try and find solutions and create a co-ordinated approach, but said they needed to stress the urgency of this work.
“Our community immediately requires additional stabilization beds. Alongside these facilities we need permanent supports to address the complex needs that so many individuals, children and families in our community are experiencing. We are concerned that another winter without these supports will further escalate these issues in our community.”
Hindley and Makowsky responded to the letter with their own on July 19, saying they were committed to finding solutions to address those issues with partners.
The province said addressing addictions, mental health and homelessness is complex, noting that it often takes several ministries and organizations working together to make sure people receive services when and where they need them.
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The majority of the letter consisted of the province talking about the work and funding already designated to help address homelessness and mental health issues.
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“In partnership between the Ministry of Health and the Saskatchewan Health Authority, efforts are underway to add more than 150 addictions treatment spaces that include virtual outpatient services, day treatment, detox/withdrawal management, inpatient addictions treatment and recovery services,” the province’s response read.
It noted that there is more to do, and that the province will work with the board and other partners.
Students are set to return to Saskatchewan classrooms as early as this week and parents are being reminded to make sure their children maintain proper hygiene and good infection control practices to prevent any illnesses at school.
Dr. David Torr, a medical health officer with the Saskatchewan Health Authority, says back to school always presents challenges because it brings people into a congregated environment and makes it easier for contagious illnesses to be transmitted.
“Washing their hands, not sharing bottles to drink, you know all those kinds of things are really important,” Torr said.
He added children should be kept up to date with immunizations, as they protect from many infectious diseases. SHA says outbreaks of whooping cough have hit the province, which is more severe than the common cold.
“Unfortunately, many of the kids who have been affected by whooping cough here are either not up to date with their immunizations, or have not had any immunizations at all,” Torr said.
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Symptoms of whooping cough include longer fits of coughing, exhaustion and vomiting, and Torr said the illness could last more than a month or two without proper treatment.
Torr stressed the best way to stop illnesses spreading in schools is to have your kids stay home when they are sick.
“We’ve got to try and prevent the spread of illnesses so if you’re sick, you’re not in any shape to even be in school.”
Saskatoon public schools are anticipating rates of illnesses to be higher than previous years once school is back in session, and are anticipating cases of influenza to rise once flu season starts in November.
“The influenza virus is a very smart one; it keeps changing its dynamics,” Torr said, adding to the importance of getting the annual flu vaccine.
Lastly, Torr explained viruses thrive in cold environments, so having children properly dressed and hydrated will aide in preventing the spread of illnesses when kids are in school.
“When it’s extremely cold, and for example, in Saskatchewan we have a dry cold, so your mucous membranes dry up especially if you’re not hydrated, and when they’re dry, that’s a protective layer that is now missing, and the viruses have easy access. It’s like having a border with no border patrol.”
The highly anticipated parkade at the Regina General Hospital is officially moving forward, with construction slated to begin this fall.
Following years of safety concerns and complaints about lack of parking from both hospital staff and the public, the decision to go ahead with the project was made in 2022.
The parkade will include a total of 1,005 stalls – 873 stalls in the parkade and 132 surface stalls.
The province said the facility increases parking around the hospital by a total of 686 spots.
“We have heard the concerns of staff and visitors to the hospital,” Health Minister Everett Hindley said in a news release. “This parkade will provide a safe, convenient option for parking for years to come. “
Regina-based firm Link Developments Ltd. will build the parkade, having recently completed projects such as the Eastgate Centre – Medical Professional Building, the University of Saskatchewan stadium Parkade and the Avenue P Medical office building in Saskatoon.
“The Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) is pleased that the construction of the parkade at the RGH is moving forward,” Michelle Mula, interim vice-president, quality, safety and chief information officer of the SHA, said. “With safety at the forefront of our decision making, the parkade aims to provide additional safe and accessible parking at RGH for staff, patients and visitors.”
Construction is set to begin this month and be finished by the end of 2024.
Brittany Tomlinson, 32, is on the hunt to find early morning child care for her six children, but if she isn’t able to find it in the next few months, she says she may have to quit her job.
Tomlinson’s family grew to six after she took in three of her sister’s children last year. She and her husband, who live in Oxford, N.S., have juggled looking after their kids in the morning since going back to work in September.
When she started her job, she tried tracking down daycare, private home child care and babysitters to help watch her kids before school started.
“I began looking for child care through Facebook mostly and it was really unsuccessful,” she said. “A few months ago, I probably messaged over 40 different people in my town … and no leads.”
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While they continue to wait to find morning child care, she said her husband has had to take time off or call into work late.
Brittany Tomlison and her family. Tomlison went back to work in September 2022 and has had difficulty finding before-school child care.
Brittany Tomlison
“So he stays home with the kids in the morning on the days that I work so that I don’t miss work,” she said, adding that this schedule is not sustainable.
“I will probably have to quit,” she said. “And I don’t want to, because I work in a long-term care facility, so there’s people who rely on me,” she said.
Tomlison isn’t alone. With the introduction of $10-a-day child-care programs sweeping across Canada, more parents are able to access daycare as it becomes more affordable. However, a significant hurdle remains: the glaring shortage of available spaces across the country.
That’s according to a report published Tuesday by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA), which found almost half of younger Canadian children (defined as not yet attending kindergarten) live in a child-care desert, meaning a postal code that has more than three children for every licensed space.
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“When we look at the big trends in terms of what the new national plan for child care was meant to do, one was to address child-care fees. And it has absolutely been doing that with fees dropping across the country,” said David Macdonald, co-author of the study and senior economist at CCPA.
“The next big challenge is trying to increase the number of spaces so that parents can actually access these lower fees and don’t have to sit on long wait lists.”
Tomlison’s family grew to six after she took in three of her sister’s children last year.
In 2023, Canada had around 759,000 full-time licensed spaces for younger children in daycare centres and family child-care homes, the report stated. However, out of the 1.97 million younger children who may need these spaces, 48 per cent per cent live in child-care deserts.
The report called ‘Not done yet: $10-a-day child care requires addressing Canada’s child-care deserts,’ found that small towns, like the one Tomlison lives in, suffer the most from child-care shortages.
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The report highlights that rural areas have greater difficulty locating child-care centres or even family daycare homes close to where children live. The main reason for this challenge is the wide dispersion of children in need of child-care services in these communities.
“We have always had a child-care issue in our little town, which is why for years I chose to watch children,” Tomlison said. “Our town only has three child-care facilities, and one is closed. We have zero before-school care, nothing for shift workers or health-care workers.”
The report looked at child-care deserts across all provinces and found that Saskatchewan, Newfoundland and Labrador and Manitoba had among the highest proportion of children living in child-care deserts.
Meanwhile, provinces such as Prince Edward Island, Quebec and New Brunswick have the lowest proportion.
“This means that many more children are living in child-care deserts in Saskatchewan than Quebec, even though Quebec has four times the child population,” the report stated.
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In terms of spaces available, the report also found that infant spots were the hardest for parents to find.
Most Canadian cities had coverage rates below 20 per cent, meaning that in those cities, there are at least five infants for every licensed infant space. St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, the Ontario cities of Barrie, Guelph, Hamilton and Brampton, and Saskatoon had the lowest availability of infant spaces compared to their population of infants. In those cities, there is less than one licensed space for every 10 infants, the report stated.
The findings of the report come as no surprise to Marni Flaherty, CEO of the Canadian Child Care Federation.
“The country has just started expanding child care in Canada and really we are in the first two years of a five-year plan,” she said. “There have been wait lists for child care for 40 years, we have a lot of work to do.”
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In the 2021 federal budget, the government pledged to bring child-care fees down to an average of $10 per day in regulated childcare centres by 2025-26. To make this happen, the feds said they will spend $30 billion over five years, with an annual injection of up to $9.2 billion permanently.
The authors of the report state that although reducing fees was a necessary first step, it also bumped up the demand for child care, meaning the challenges need to be addressed.
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The first barrier to a shortage of child care is adequate staffing.
“Child care jobs are low pay, it’s often part-time, the quality of employment isn’t great, even if folks really love working with children and working in a child-care centre, they often don’t stick around,” Macdonald told Global News.
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“And so it’s a challenge of training to some degree, but in reality, it’s a challenge of retention that’s going to be required.”
While physical spaces for child care may exist, without offering higher wages and improving the work environment, there will be a shortage of employees to staff these facilities, he added.
A second challenge to expanding the supply of child-care spaces is the services have mostly been treated as a private responsibility in Canada, the authors state. They argue, like the school system, child care should be tackled as a public approach.
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“If we just leave it up to the market, you’ll end up with a lot more spaces in big cities. You’ll end up with a lot more spaces in downtown cores, but you’ll retain a situation where smaller centres are largely abandoned,” Macdonald told Global News.
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This stands in sharp contrast to the approach taken in the public school system, the authors note. Unlike schools, which are typically located based on the students’ geographical distribution, child-care facilities have traditionally been established without considering the actual needs and convenience of the children, they argue.
Flaherty agreed.
“It’s been a market-driven environment. We wouldn’t plan our school system like that. We wouldn’t plan our hospital system like that,” she said. “So expansion (of child care) requires public management planning and financing.”
Across the country, there has been a growing dispute within the Métis Nation over who is, and isn’t, Métis.
“The Red River Métis and the historic Métis Nation need to stand up for what we actually are,” said Will Goodon of the Manitoba Métis Federation. “We’re not just a mixture, we are an actual, distinct Indigenous nation.”
Infighting amongst Métis got so bad that the Manitoba Métis Federation left the Métis National Council in 2021 saying the national body wasn’t doing enough to sanction the Métis Nation of Ontario (MNO) — the representative body of Métis people in Ontario — over identity and claims to territory.
The Métis debate has reached a boiling point in Ontario as First Nations Chiefs have begun to weigh in.
At issue is the location of historic Métis communities and the power that comes with signing a self-government agreement that may impact First Nations.
A self-government agreement typically sets up new funding agreements and transfers jurisdiction over decisions like governance, social and economic development, education, health, and lands, as well as authority over the delivery of programs and services.
Prior to signing their self-government agreement, the MNO conducted research to identify historic Métis communities in Ontario. In 2017 six were co-announced with the province, most of which overlay Treaty territory.
First Nations are concerned that the MNO will exercise its jurisdiction on their land without consultation. As the Métis Nation of Alberta and Métis Nation of Saskatchewan have also signed self-government agreements with the federal government this issue could have far-reaching impacts.
Ottawa signs self-government agreements with Metis Nation in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario
Numerous First Nations organizations across Northwestern Ontario have rejected the MNO’s self-government agreement and claims of historic Métis communities.
The Chiefs of Ontario joined in saying; “MNO’s recognition of these aforementioned communities relies on changing the identities of First Nations individuals into Métis, simply because they are mixed-race, and not because they identified with an existing Métis community. Mixed-race does not mean that someone is Métis.”
Grand Council Treaty #3 has also rejected the MNO’s claims and self-government agreement. Even some Métis organizations outside the province agree.
“With the First Nations in Ontario having this really ‘come to Jesus’ moment … I think it underlines what we’ve been saying for so many years that the Ontario Métis — outside of the little part (around Kenora, Ont.) — is very much not us,” says Goodon. “They are not part of the historic Métis nation.”
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In 2018, the Métis National Council released this map with the purpose of defining who the citizens of the Métis Nation are.
Métis National Council
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In 2019, the Métis Nation of Ontario released this map detailing its traditional harvesting territories across Ontario.
Métis Nation of Ontario
Some in Temagami and Teme-Augama Anishnabai communities, near Surbury, Ont. even allege MNO is using their ancestor’s as their own to prove presence in the area.
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“They used a picture of mine and (Temagami First Nation Chief) Shelly’s great-great-grandparents,” said Teme-Augama Anishnabai Second Chief John Turner.
“It seems to us a case of identity theft of our ancestors, our family portraits are being used to convey a sense there’s some legitimacy behind their claims.”
“What they are doing essentially is just claiming these identities through censuses, erasing stories, erasing our oral history,” adds Temagami Chief Shelly Moore-Frappier.
“There are no Métis in our territory, in our homeland … If you’re an Indigenous person in N’dakimenan (their word for the region) … you are Teme-Augama Anishnabai. You are not Métis.”
First Nations are also upset that they weren’t consulted by the provincial and federal governments before the signing of MNO’s self-government agreement.
According to the Temagami and Teme-Augama Anishnabai, a member of the MNO even built a cabin on their territory.
“The notion of the research being flawed to me became clear because we were telling the province, like, what? What’s the nature of this claim or this asserted Métis (homeland)?” said Turner.
“They claim that the gentleman was supported by the leadership at the MNO and they sent us a link (to the MNO website) to just where his claim was justified.”
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An archival photo of Temagami First Nation Anishinaabe ancestors the community says the MNO is claiming as their own.
Temagami First Nation
MNO president Margaret Froh says it shouldn’t shock anyone that First Nations and Métis share ancestors.
“It’s troubling and disappointing but at the same time I think we still have a lot of education to do within this country including with our First Nations kin,” said Froh. Adding that the Supreme Court of Canada affirmed 20 years ago with the Powley hunting rights case that Métis do exist in Ontario.
She believes there is likely some confusion around what the self-government agreement and federal recognition and implementation actually entail. “This is not about lands. It’s all about recognizing our right as Métis to govern ourselves.“
Like many Métis organizations to the west, Froh defines Métis as a distinct people who are descendants of historic Métis communities that were here before Canada. “That’s why we as Métis people are recognized within Section 35 of Canada’s Constitution Act,” she said.
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“The MNO has always positioned ourselves as the eastern border,” Froh adds. “We do not recognize Métis in Quebec, we do not recognize Métis in Eastern Canada … there are a lot of groups (there) that are popping up that oftentimes are there, I think, to undermine First Nation rights, which we find appalling.”
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Goodon, a self-described historic Métis Nation protector, says the situation in Ontario needs to be handled swiftly before bad blood spreads.
“When we look at this idea of the ancestors that MNO is recreating … they’re looking at folks who are trying to assert that they’re Métis today, then they go back in time, find this ancestor, rebrand this person as Métis because of some document that they have found, and then they are able to again assert that the present-day person is Métis,” he said.
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Adding, “(outside) academics have found no connection to the historic Métis nation (in certain parts of Ontario) and the connections that they have are actually connected to the First Nation. So where does that leave these so-called new communities that MNO has created? In my opinion, it leaves them nowhere.”
After going into cardiac arrest and being brought back four times, Darren Mathieu is picking up the pieces of his life. To say his multiple brushes with death have changed him would be an understatement.
After suffering severe pancreas damage, Mathieu went into cardiac arrest four times and fell into coma three times. Doctors were convinced he was not going to make it, but he pulled through. He is still recovering and struggling to get his life back on track.
Before everything, Mathieu was living in Prince Albert taking care of his 10-year-old daughter (who wishes not to be named) and dying mother. He was managing fine until the tragic day his mother died in 2020.
“She didn’t let on how sick she was, so when she passed it came as a massive shock. She was my world and when that stability disappeared, I just went off the rails. I don’t remember what happened between the day my mother died and the day I woke up in the hospital,” Mathieu recounted.
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Unable to handle the grief of losing his mom, Mathieu started neglecting taking his diabetes medication. Everything he knows from that period was told to him by his daughter.
“I quit my meds. Everything I should have been doing, I quit. Eventually I did not have any insulin left. I was told that my daughter actually called 911 and they rushed me to the hospital.”
Mathieu got admitted to the hospital in Prince Albert around Oct. 10, 2020. He was administered because his pancreas was failing, causing his kidneys to also fail. During his two-day stay in the Prince Albert hospital, his heart would stop twice, and medical staff would bring him back every time.
It was then decided to transfer him to St Paul’s Hospital in Saskatoon.
“I decided to make the helicopter transfer more entertaining by passing away during the flight. They had to save my life mid-air. That was the third time I died.”
After getting to Saskatoon Mathieu was in a coma for three weeks. Doctors gave a DNR form (Do Not Resuscitate) to his brother, because they were convinced he was not going to make it. His brother refused to sign the form.
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Mathieu remembers finally waking up from the coma.
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“I remember my doctor had the most beautiful blue eyes. Those were the first thing I saw when I woke up from my coma. In that moment, I can probably say that I loved the man more than my brother, because I knew I was in a lot of trouble, and I knew this person was there to help me,” he said.
Medical staff would tell Mathieu afterwards that him waking up was a miracle. However, Mathieu’s recovery did not go smoothly.
“I had this big tube down my throat, I could not eat, I could not go to the washroom, I could barely move. Doctors told me they had to cut me open and manually clean my insides. My doctor described it as ‘scrapping out pails of green gunk’.”
When everything looked to be going a little bit better, his body shut off again and Mathieu went into cardiac arrest a fourth time.
“The thing that was different about the fourth time is: I remember what happened after I died. That is when I found out it is all true what they say about dying. At some point I lost consciousness and when I woke up I was in this very large white field, where I was floating, and there were shadow figures all around me,” Mathieu said.
“When I looked towards the end there was a tunnel where everyone was floating towards. I went ‘sure why not’ and started floating along. The whole scene was tranquil and very peaceful. All of sudden someone, I don’t know who, told me to turn around. When I looked back I saw these hands coming towards me. It made me stop. I looked at the hands and said ‘I’m not done yet’ and I reached out for the hands.
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“The second I grabbed them, I was back in the ICU.”
Ever since his near-death experience, Mathieu has slowly been recovering, but two-and-a-half years later he is still suffering from long-term effects. He lives with only a third of his pancreas, his memory is no longer the same and he occasionally has balance issues so severe he knocks into walls. Even now, he has trouble walking around, doing housework or digesting food.
During his ordeal Mathieu lost a ton of weight.
“I was always a big guy. I almost hit 300 pounds (136 kilograms) at one point, but I brought it down. Before going to the hospital I was about 280 pounds (127 kilograms). During my stay in the hospital, I went down to only 136 pounds (62 kilograms). It is the most harrowing weight loss plan I ever did and I don’t recommend it to anyone.”
Mathieu hopes he can get to a point where he is healthy enough to go back work, but he is very unsure if he actually can.
“I will never be able to do the hard labour I used to do. I used to work construction and I was a cleaner in the hospital. I was recently denied disability by the Saskatchewan Health Authority. I don’t know what is going on there, because if I am not disabled, I don’t know who is anymore.”
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Because he was denied disability and he only receives a small amount of money from social services, Mathieu has been struggling to find stable housing. He recently turned to GoFundMe, asking people for support. He plans to use the money to provide a stable home for his, now 13-year-old, daughter while he focuses on getting healthy. He says his only goal in life right now is getting his daughter to 18.
“Once I get healthy, if that ever happens, I can actually start providing for my daughter again. I will probably be limited to a desk job, but I am fighter and I will not give up.”
Mathieu is determined to keep fighting for himself and his daughter. Even something as small as dying four times will not deter him.
A construction worker on the Regina International Airport property has died after an incident that occurred Friday night.
Officials said a “serious accident” happened at around 11:30 p.m. on May 26, related to the 13-31 runway overlay project.
“Emergency responders attended the scene immediately, but unfortunately the injuries the individual suffered were fatal,” The Regina International Airport said in a release.
They said Regina Police and the Saskatchewan Coroners Service worked into the early morning hours on the airfield, and federal occupational health and safety workers would be conducting an investigation.
Next of kin have been notified.
No gender or age was released to the public as of Saturday afternoon.
“This is such as sad, tragic situation, and we will be respecting those involved and their families,” James Bogusz, the President and CEO of the Regina Airport Authority said.
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In a statement from PCL Construction Management, who is overseeing the runway project, they said they will also be undertaking its own investigation.
“We are deeply saddened by the unfortunate incident that occurred Friday evening at our airport site,” the statement read. “We are currently involved in gathering further information, so at this time we are unable to provide any details or answer any questions. We are also respecting the privacy of the individual and trade contractor involved and are not providing personal information.”
According to the release, PCL is in contact with Saskatchewan Occupational Health and Safety, regularly coordinating with the agency as it relates to the ongoing investigation.
Normal runway operations and flights are continuing as scheduled.
Runway construction, however, is being halted over the weekend so everyone can regroup, but is expected to resume Monday.
“It is with great sadness that we share this devastating news and we pray for the individual’s family, friends, co-workers and community,” the airport said.
The minister responsible for Mental Health and Addictions said the province is making significant investments into the area of mental health and addictions by making sure that they are providing support for people that works for them.
“We know that when it comes to mental health and addictions, that it’s not really a one-size-fits-all approach. People have different needs when it comes to supports and services that they require for mental health and addictions,” said Minister Everett Hindley.
“I think this is a perfect example of that, how we’re able to (use) the online virtual therapy component, how it provides yet another tool for people to be able to access, in this case, the mental health support they need, regardless of where they might live in Saskatchewan.”
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The Online Therapy Unit provides effective online treatment to those in the province who are experiencing depression, anxiety, substance misuse or difficulties coping with chronic health conditions.
Heather Hadjistavropoulos is a professor of psychology at the University of Regina and is also the executive director of the Online Therapy Unit. She said this funding will help overcome barriers to care and gives clients another option.
“Specifically, barriers like being living in a rural and remote area, having limited time because of maybe personal circumstances, having concerns about privacy, or just this desire to learn about mental health in a different type of way,” she said.
“So, we’re thrilled to have this extra $400,000 to help us expand our reach with online therapy. And that actually opens up 500 extra spots for online therapy in Saskatchewan,”
According to a release, the Online Therapy Unit was established through partnership with the Saskatchewan Health Authority and has grown over the past few years.
Since 2015, the province has invested approximately $9 million for ICBT.
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“Police believe fentanyl is involved in the deaths,” said a release. “Police are concerned about the possibility of a tainted or compromised drug.”
MJPS reminds the public that anyone can be at risk of an overdose. They encourage anyone planning to use drugs to not do so alone.
“If you are a drug user, or you know a drug user, get help,” stated police. “Don’t let the addiction make the decisions and plans that can lead to a near-fatal or fatal overdose. Connect with health resources.”
Police also encourage the public to know the signs of an opioid overdose, which can include:
difficulty walking, talking or staying awake
blue lips or nails, pinpoint pupils, cold and clammy skin
dizziness or confusion; extreme drowsiness
choking, gurgling or snoring sounds
slow or weak breathing
inability to wake up even when shaken or shouted at.
“Know that the Good Samaritan Overdose Act will protect anyone experiencing a drug overdose from charges of possession of a controlled substance,” police stated. “That’s also true for anyone present while someone else is experiencing an overdose. Don’t hesitate to call 9-1-1 in an overdose situation.”
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As the MJPS continue to investigate the three fatal overdoses, they say anyone can access take-home naloxone kits if they are concerned about experiencing a drug overdose or witnessing one.
Anyone with any information about people trafficking drugs in Moose Jaw should call authorities. People wishing to remain anonymous can call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).
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A Calgary-based doctor is planning to go to court to prevent Alberta Health Services from dropping its continuous masking policy.
On Thursday, the provincial health authority said continuing masking at AHS facilities, continuing care facilities and contracted sites will not be required after Monday. That includes Alberta Precision Laboratories, Covenant Health, CapitalCare and Carewest sites.
Dr. David Keegan set up a crowdfunding campaign to raise $20,000 to file a court injunction against AHS lifting its facility mask mandate on June 19. That gofundme hit its goal in less than 24 hours.
On Thursday afternoon, Keegan said he’s retained senior legal counsel and the court case will “move ahead” in a tweet at 4:01 p.m.
Keegan said he’s trying to look out for patients, staff and members of the public.
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“Anybody who’s on AHS premises, we need to be able to rely upon the air, to have reasonable things in place to keep it safe,” he told Global News.
“We know that COVID is airborne. It spreads just like cigarette smoke, and if people are not masking anymore, then that’s going to infect or contaminate the air.”
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The concern is especially high for people who are immune-compromised, like infants or cancer patients, for whom a COVID infection puts them at a much higher likelihood of severe outcomes.
AHS said “patients are encouraged to have conversations with their care providers regarding masking, hand hygiene, or other factors that patients feel are important to their care.”
But Keegan said it’s unrealistic to ask someone sick on a stretcher to ask their nurse or doctor to mask up.
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“I don’t know if people really understand the power differential that’s there between health care providers who are well and patients who are sick,” Keegan said. “And I’ve lived that and walked that path.
“You can’t be putting the responsibility for basic measures to protect people with disabilities and chronic disease… on them when a very minor, reasonable, easy-to-do accommodation can be just kept in place.”
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According to the latest AHS infection prevention and control annual report, patients hospitalized with COVID-19 primarily were infected in the community. But at the start of 2022, “there was a sharp rise in the rate of hospital-acquired cases from 2.12 to 14.54 per 10,000 patient-days when compared with Q3: October-December 2021.”
“Despite a reduction in severe outcomes in waves five and six, the burden of COVID-19 on Canadian hospitals was substantial,” the report reads.
That was the same time the highly transmissible Omicron subvariant became dominant in the province and country.
The president of the United Nurses of Alberta expressed concerns about how the AHS policy changes could affect nurses’ health and wellbeing from both COVID-19 and the public.
Heather Smith said the change in policy “does not in any way remove obligations for workers to be safe, to ensure their patients, residents, clients are to be safe and that they must wear appropriate PPE to match the situation.”
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Smith pointed to the latest data release on the pandemic in Alberta that showed 352 people were in hospitals with COVID, across all AHS zones.
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The UNA president was also concerned about the message the mask use policy sends, the “perception that everything’s okay, health care workers don’t need to (wear masks).
“And I also am concerned about backlash that ‘Why are you wearing them? You shouldn’t be wearing them since the mask mandate is gone.’”
UNA has a PPE agreement with AHS, put in place at first in 2020 and amended in 2021. Smith said it was also reaffirmed this week by AHS, who she characterized as being very good at procuring and maintaining adequate PPE supply.
She said Albertans should not hesitate seeking health care as a result of the change in mask policy.
“We have an obligation not just to keep ourselves safe, but to keep members of the public safe,” Smith said. “And I would suggest that that includes masking.”
The health-care provider said it consulted with stakeholders such as patients, families, advisory councils, clinicians and frontline managers in arriving at its decision.
AHS said people are welcome to wear masks if they choose, but will not be required to do so.
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AHS added it will closely monitor COVID-19 data to see if there is any need for changes to the new policy.
COVID no longer considered a global health emergency
Keegan announced on Twitter Friday he has retained legal counsel and the court case will be moving ahead.
“I beg you to keep the mask mandate in place until a full disability-impact review can be done and accommodations implemented,” he wrote directly to AHS in the tweet.
He’s also skeptical of any assurances of all AHS HVAC systems being able to provide enough fresh air.
“The trick is we don’t know that until you test things in real circumstances,” the family doctor said.
Keegan said he measured the CO2 levels – a proxy for how fresh the air in a room is – during a 10-minute patient visit. In that time, the levels doubled from 600 to 1,200 parts per million, he said, apparently showing a lack of fresh air exchange.
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“Until we know that every place is safe and has great air quality… then we can’t just assume they are,” he said.
“Our duty is to provide a safe space for patients to seek care and to provide a safe space for our staff, physicians, contractors, learners, anybody else who might be in those places.”
Provinces like B.C., Saskatchewan and Manitoba have dropped their mandatory masking in health-care settings.
