Please be advised of the temporary disruption to emergency services at the Herbert and District Integrated Facility effective July 30, 2020 until further notice.
Please be advised of the temporary disruption to emergency services at the Herbert and District Integrated Facility effective July 30, 2020 until further notice.
Due to active COVID-19 activity in the area, emergency services will NOT be available at the facility effective July 30, 2020. Lab/X-ray and long-term care services are not affected by this disruption.
In the event of an emergency call 9-1-1 or visit the emergency department in Swift Current or Moose Jaw. Please call ahead or call 8-1-1 before visiting any emergency department. Non-urgent health related questions can be directed to the provincial HealthLine by calling 8-1-1.
Read the public service announcement on the Saskatchewan Health Authority website:
The fall fiscal update, to be presented Tuesday by the federal finance minister, will include billions of dollars in loans and direct funding for the construction of affordable housing, a senior government source has told CBC News.
New measures will include $15 billion for 10-year loans for new rental housing construction, a $1-billion fund dedicated to getting more affordable housing built, and new mortgage rules for lenders dealing with homeowners at risk, according to the source, who is not authorized to speak publicly about the fall economic statement before it is tabled.
The measures are part of a restrained fiscal update focused on mitigating the housing crisis and easing cost-of-living challenges while still trying to grow the economy and create jobs, the source said.
The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) will facilitate the lending to builders and the loans will have “favourable terms,” said the source, who would not discuss the rate to be charged.
The money, which the government estimates will help build 30,000 new homes across Canada, is for rental construction projects with five or more units.
“This funding gives builders a lot of certainty during the riskiest phases of a housing project,” said the source. “It helps ensure buildings and construction happens, which we need.”
WATCH | Ottawa plans new tax rules to curb short-term rentals:
Ottawa to commit billions toward building more housing
Featured VideoCBC News has learned the federal government intends to commit billions towards addressing the housing crisis during its fall economic statement Tuesday. The money will go toward loans and grants for building new housing units and changes to the tax code.
The new mortgage rules are about “codifying the government’s expectations around mortgage relief for homeowners at risk, and how they are treated by their financial institution,” said the source.
The rules will be part of a six-point charter that builds on the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada’s existing guidelines. Those guidelines allow for extensions of amortization periods and the waiving of fees related to delayed payments.
The charter will include a new requirement that mortgage lenders proactively contact homeowners four to six months before they are set to renew their mortgage to assess their options. Many homeowners will be facing much higher interest rates at renewal time in the next two years.
And for those with insured mortgages who want to switch lenders when they’re up for renewal, a financial stress test will no longer be required.
The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions and the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada will be the principal enforcers of the new rules.
“This is about supporting Canadians through temporary financial stress caused by an environment that we’re living in with elevated interest rates, to help people stay in their homes,” said the source.
The $1 billion earmarked for affordable housing is aimed at building more non-profit and public housing. It will take the form of direct funding, rather than loans for builders.
New measures for short-term rentals
These new measures are in addition to a number of housing and affordability announcements the Liberal government has made recently — including those in the yet-to-be passed Bill C-56, which would remove the GST from construction of new rental housing and give more powers to the Competition Bureau to, among other things, go after unfair competition in the grocery sector.
Tuesday’s fiscal update will include additional Competition Act changes different from but complementary to what is proposed in Bill C-56.
Radio-Canada confirms what the Toronto Star first reported — that Ottawa intends to prevent owners from making tax deductions for short-term rental properties when they are located in areas where this practice is prohibited.
Under this new proposal, it would be impossible for owners of short-term rental properties to deductrental expenses such as interest costs, property taxes or repairs. This would require legislative changes and would come into force on Jan. 1.
It would also penalize owners who find themselves in violation of provincial or municipal regulations by having the Canada Revenue Agency refuse their request for tax deductions. The fiscal update will also include money for municipalities to enforce their own rules on short-term rentals.
The aim is to make short-term rental properties less lucrative, to discourage landlords who break the rules, and to ultimately make more existing housing available for long-term tenancy.
WATCH | Premiers push back on federal housing approach:
Housing, affordability top priorities in upcoming fall economic statement, Freeland says
Featured VideoSpeaking at a housing announcement alongside Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow, Canada’s Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said the fall economic statement, which will be presented on Nov. 21, will be focused on making housing — and life in general — more affordable for Canadians.
While these new measures will be in Tuesday’s announcement — accompanied by some other affordability relief measures that the government source declined to detail — this year’s fiscal update is expected to be just that: an update.
It is expected to be narrowly focused document rather than a mini-budget. It’s expected to provide an up-to-date snapshot of the economic numbers for the country, including how announcements made since the spring budget factor into the financial picture.
It will also provide an update on measures committed to in the last budget but that have not rolled out yet, such as the handful of much touted clean tech tax credits meant to compete with the United States’ Inflation Reduction Act.
The government also will launch an investment tax credit for carbon capture and net-zero energy projects on Tuesday, a source confirmed to CBC News. That detail was first reported by Reuters.
The fall economic statement should also include an update of the government progress on trimming $15 billion from government department budgets.
The fiscal picture is even tighter now than it was in March.
“I think it’s fair to say that compared to the spring, the private sector outlook is certainly one with softer growth in the next 12 months than previously projected,” said the government source. “And with elevated interest rates, that really constrains government space, government revenues.”
Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland is trying to manage expectations.
“It’s a hard balance … on one hand, supporting Canadians as we need to do and at the same time being fiscally responsible. But it’s a balance that we’re committed to striking,” she said Thursday at a news conference.
“We won’t be able to do everything.”
Conservatives push for balanced budget
Complicating matters, the Liberals need to take into account the demands of the NDP, who have been supporting the government through a supply and confidence agreement.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh outlined his expectations for the fiscal update last week: more action on affordable housing and efforts to bring down grocery prices. But they do not include pharmacare, which he says is an “ongoing negotiation.”
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has very different expectations — he’s called on the government to return to a balanced budget, arguing that ongoing deficits are contributing to inflation. He is also calling for the government to stop the planned carbon tax increases and to adopt his private member’s bill on housing.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre points at his message at a press event in Vancouver. B.C., Thursday, Sept. 14, 2023. (Ethan Cairns/Canadian Press)
He’s not alone in calling for a plan to balance the budget.
“We have been warning about this day and the day has come,” said Goldy Hyder, president and CEO of the Business Council of Canada. “There’s no sense of how we’re ever going to get back to a balanced budget. How it is that we’re going to be able to control our interest costs? Canadians have debts. They know if you’re borrowing, costs go up, something has to give.”
Hyder acknowledged that Ottawa has some good policies on the books, ones the business council even supports. But he said the Liberal government lacks a talent for execution.
“We need a government that doesn’t move on to the next shiny object before it implements the policies. It seems to feel the work is done as soon as you put out the press release. And the reality is that governing is hard.”
There are other stakeholders also looking for progress on existing promises.
“Right now the federal government has so much on its plate around implementing all the measures in budget 2023 plus all of the climate and clean economy measures it’s been announcing over the last couple of years,” said Mark Zacharias, executive director of the think tank Clean Energy Canada.
“We would really first and foremost like to see movement on finishing what they started.”
Some stakeholders with specific hopes for Tuesday’s update might be disappointed. While the government source says there could be language supporting the idea of some measures, such as open banking, Indigenous equity loan guarantees, heat pump co-delivery agreements and the recapitalization of the popular home retrofit program, there is no money committed to them yet.
Doug Lee and his wife, Nancy, had been dreaming for months about a trip to Ireland with their best friends, a couple they’d known for almost 40 years.
The four of them left early for the Halifax airport last August, spirits high while they listened to traditional Irish music in the car.
“We were all singing … and laughing … and just enjoying the morning,” said Nancy.
The plan was to fly from Halifax to Toronto and then on to Dublin for an eight-day tour.
“We were looking forward to something that we had never seen before,” said Nancy, adding that the trip was a long overdue honeymoon they never had 50 years earlier. “There were castles to visit, grand feasts and scenic views.”
But the gaiety came to an abrupt halt when the group checked in at the Porter Airlines counter.
Doug’s airline ticket said “Doug” Lee, but the first name on his passport was three letters longer — it read “Douglas” Lee.
“Because those two [names] did not match, they said, ‘No, you can’t fly,’ ” said Doug, who’d rarely been on a plane in his 76 years. “That kind of caught me by surprise.”
Porter Airlines said that Air Transat was responsible for facilitating any name corrections as it sold the tickets to the Lees. (Evan Mitsui/CBC)
Under federal law, the name on an airline passenger’s ticket must match the name on government-issued identification, such as a passport or driver’s licence.
What followed was more than five hours of scrambling, as the clock ticked down to departure and Doug, Nancy and their friends tried desperately to get the problem fixed.
An air passenger rights advocate says he has seen similar situations too often — airlines that don’t correct a minor issue, at the passenger’s expense.
“An airline can’t walk away from a contract by way of a clerical error,” said Air Passenger Rights advocacy group president Gábor Lukács. “If you make a typo in your ticket, you have the right to have it corrected.”
Lukács wants air travellers to know, as the busy holiday season approaches, that if there’s a minor issue with a ticket like this one, he says airlines have a duty to fix it.
“When there is no doubt who the passenger is, there is no doubt that it is a genuine typo, the airline has to reasonably co-operate,” he said.
WATCH | What’s in a name? A few letters can make a big difference on airlines tickets:
Missing letters in his name cost man $10K trip after airlines fail to fix ticket | Go Public
In the end, Doug and Nancy said a tearful goodbye to their friends, who had to get on the plane without them.
As Doug was not allowed to board the plane, his wife stayed behind, too, so they both missed out on a $10,000 trip they’d saved hard to enjoy.
“Seeing them leave was really heartbreaking,” said Nancy. “It just seemed so unfair.”
The couple eventually made the sad journey back to their home in Souris, P.E.I., about an hour east of Charlottetown.
Flight was a ‘codeshare’
The issue, the couple discovered, was the fact that their friend had booked the group’s tickets on what is called a codeshare flight — essentially an agreement between airlines to sell seats on each other’s flights.
Codeshares are becoming increasingly popular post-pandemic according to aviation experts, as airlines want to fly to more destinations but are suffering staff shortages and airline production is still struggling with supply chain issues.
Although Doug’s ticket was purchased through Air Transat, the codeshare flight was operated by Porter Airlines.
The name discrepancy between Doug Lee’s passport and his Air Transat e-ticket meant he wasn’t able to board the flight. (Graphic design by Allison Cake/CBC)
While he and his wife pleaded with several Porter agents at the airport, their friends and their friend’s daughter spent hours making frantic calls to the travel agency they booked with, and Air Transat agents.
“That almost sounds like a joke,” said Lukács. “How many airline employees do you need to fix a name correction?”
At one point, an Air Transat agent on the phone said Doug’s name had been corrected in their system — changed from “Doug” to “Douglas.”
Air Transat says that both Air Transat and Porter are ‘in the process of updating procedures’ so passenger name corrections can be made between the airlines. (Evan Mitsui/CBC)
With that agent on the line, Doug says his friend handed the phone to the Porter agent at the counter, who said she could not see the correction on her screen. Therefore, Doug was still out of luck.
“When two airlines enter into a codeshare agreement, they have to ensure that their systems can talk to each other,” said Lukács.
“Having a system that doesn’t enable what’s necessary means the system is broken.”
Porter Airlines’ director of communications, Brad Cicero, wrote in an email to Go Public that Air Transat was responsible to facilitate any corrections, as it “owns the ticket.”
According to Cicero, the two systems are designed to “share specific information and fields relevant to bookings.” It is not clear why the Porter agent was unable to see Air Transat’s name correction on a screen.
In an email to Go Public, Bernard Côté, director of communications for Air Transat, wrote that both Air Transat and Porter are “in the process of updating procedures” so that passenger names can be updated between the two airlines.
Customer experience and retention specialist Anne Miner says Air Transat and Porter need to make ‘some serious effort’ to appease Doug and Nancy Lee. (Doug Husby/CBC)
He did not reply when asked why a clear system of communication between the two airlines was not in place before selling tickets in a codeshare arrangement.
“You really have to question how come these airlines held out to the public that they are a codeshare and able to handle passengers,” said Lukács, “when their systems are so disjointed that something as simple as a name correction could not be done.”
Booking made through FlightHub
In an email to Go Public, Air Transat pointed a finger at the online booking travel agent, FlightHub.
“In this particular case, the travel agency should have made the correction … before the departure date and reissued the ticket to Mr. Lee and his wife,” wrote Côté.
The Lees say they had no idea there was a problem until they tried to check in.
When reached on the phone at the airport, a customer service rep for FlightHub said it was too close to the flight’s departure to correct the name on the ticket. The travel agency repeated this answer to Go Public.
Lukács says it’s unfortunate FlightHub couldn’t make the fix, but that with hours before departure, it was up to the airlines involved to solve the problem.
“Airlines should do everything in their power to ensure that they and the passenger jointly can meet the rules,” he said.
WATCH | Travelling this season? Here’s some advice:
Travel advice from an air passenger rights advocate
Featured VideoAir Passenger Rights advocacy group president Gábor Lukács shares his top tip for navigating travel disruptions.
‘Egregious customer service’
At one point, Nancy says Doug mentioned to the Porter agent that he’d worked as an RCMP officer for over 30 years before he retired. The agent then asked if Doug had a government paycheque with him, said Nancy.
“Who carries around a paycheque?” she said. “Even if Doug wasn’t retired.”
The couple also offered to pay for another seat for Doug on the plane, using his full first name, in order to salvage their trip.
“She said ‘There’s no empty seats, it’s full up,’ ” said Nancy. “I said, ‘There’s two empty seats! Our empty seats.”
That didn’t work, either. Porter told Go Public it “doesn’t have the ability to cancel a booking made … for another airline.”
The Lees look over their travel documents at home in Souris, P.E.I. (Aaron Adetuyi/CBC)
The couple’s frustrations are echoed by customer retention specialist and business coach Anne Miner.
“This [case] is particularly egregious,” said Miner, reacting to the fact that the airlines should have been able to fix the problem, and didn’t. “If the organization was my client, I would be letting them know that that was very poorly handled.”
Miner says Air Transat and Porter need to make “some serious effort” to appease Doug and Nancy Lee, if only to protect their reputations.
Compensation
After Go Public contacted Air Transat, the airline agreed to refund the cost of the couple’s tickets — about $2,200 — “as a gesture of goodwill.”
It declined to compensate the couple for the almost $8,000 they lost to the Irish tour company.
Lukács calls the offer “an insult.”
“Air Transat should be offering to compensate the passenger fully for all his losses and make him whole,” he said. “That’s just what Air Transat has to do when it so incredibly badly messes up.”
Nancy Lee says that as seniors, it’ll be a long time before she and her husband can save up enough again for a trip like the one they’d planned to Ireland.
“I would like [Air Transat and Porter] to do the right thing,” she said. “We all know what the right thing is.”
Doug Lee says he, too, feels wronged and would like full compensation.
“It’s hard to get past this one.”
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Saskatchewan Health Authority notified the public that an individual who tested COVID-19 positive visited the following business when the individual was likely infectious: August 26 – Southland Co-op, Coronach Food Store, 112 Centre Street, from 3-3:15 p.m.
Public Health officials advised individuals who were at this location on the specified date during the specified time to immediately self-isolate if they have had or currently have symptoms of COVID-19 and to call HealthLine 811 to arrange for testing.
All other individuals who are not experiencing symptoms should self monitor for 14 days after this exposure. It is important to note that individuals may develop symptoms from two to 14 days following exposure to the virus causing COVID-19.
Additionally, the SHA alerted the public of possible exposure to COVID-19 at Fresh Start on 122 Third Avenue West from about 1:20 p.m. to 1:50 p.m. and another possible exposure at the Timothy Daniels Clothing Company on 316 Centre Street in Assiniboia from around 2 p.m. to 2:50 p.m. on August 25.
Read more about Assiniboia and COVID on the SHA website.
“SHA officials have met with members of the Uko family and formally apologized for the events that transpired in our facilities prior to the passing of Samwel Uko on May 21, 2020.
“Our sincerest condolences go out to everyone affected by Samwel’s passing and most especially his parents and extended family. Samwel was a vibrant young man who sought help from us and we failed to provide him the timely assistance he needed. There are no words that can bring Samwel back, but I do want the public to know that we recognize how deeply we failed him.
“As an organization, we are committed to enhance access to mental health supports across Saskatchewan. Samwel’s tragic experience with our health system will strengthen our resolve to advance this work.
“We thank Samwel’s family for their participation in our review of his care and for accepting our formal apology.”
In the early evening of May 21, 2020, Samwel Uko sought help from the Emergency Department at Regina General Hospital and was denied care.
Facts about the situation point to multiple factors influencing this tragic outcome rather than a single cause, including (but were not limited to) conflicting information on the patient’s identity; the process for registration of an unidentified patient was not utilized; information sharing practises with key partner organizations; the processes involving the removal of patients and/or visitors.
Additional areas for improvement were also identified around adaptation of COVID-19 screening practices, better coordination of mental health supports in the Emergency Department and additional staff awareness of Stop the Line protocols aimed at avoiding potential harm.
The rest of the quality improvement summary and recommendations can be read on the Saskatchewan Health Authority website:
VANCOUVER — Loss. That’s the word that comes to mind when Linda Riches thinks of the debilitating depression that robbed her of the ability to fully care for her son, advance in her career and pursue her goal of a PhD in education.
VANCOUVER — Loss. That’s the word that comes to mind when Linda Riches thinks of the debilitating depression that robbed her of the ability to fully care for her son, advance in her career and pursue her goal of a PhD in education.
Riches, 67, said she was prescribed at least a dozen antidepressants, starting in her 30s, but they failed to lift her mood while she missed a lot of days in her job as a high school teacher. When she would return to work, she felt isolated and alone among co-workers she believed would have responded differently if she’d had a physical illness.
“If you’ve been off because of a mental health issue, people just don’t want to talk about it. So they ignore it. Nobody wants to come and say, ‘Is there anything I can do to help you?’ ” she said from her home near Prince George, B.C.
Years went by as she started to lose hope before one medication turned out to be the right fit.
Now, Riches says she hopes others can avoid a trial-and-error experience by having a genetic test to help predict which drugs would likely work best for them and cause fewer side-effects.
Known as pharmacogenomic testing, such personalized treatment is available for a fee. A lab examines DNA obtained from a sample such as from blood, saliva or a cheek swab to identify the genetic variants that affect how the patient would metabolize and respond to specific medications.
Riches is one of three patients who took part in a University of British Columbia study into the cost savings offered if pharmacogenomic testing were to be publicly funded.
A study published Tuesday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal suggests that providing the test as a standard part of care could save $956 million over 20 years for the health-care system in British Columbia alone. That excludes all the personal and economic savings from people returning to work, being able to afford child care and having a better quality of life.
Stirling Bryan, a senior author on the study, said more than 35 antidepressants are available in Canada but nearly half of patients do not respond to the first medication they are prescribed and about a quarter of those report intolerable side-effects.
Genes are responsible for about 42 per cent of the variation in how people respond to antidepressants, said Bryan, a professor at UBC’s school of population and public health and a senior scientist at Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute.
Researchers accessed about 194,000 patients’ health data from 2015 to 2020. It included medications they were typically prescribed for major depression as well as clinical trial data linking genetic information to appropriate antidepressants. From that, they developed a simulation model for how people would fare over 20 years if they did not have pharmacogenomic testing compared with predictable outcomes with that testing.
Bryan said about 37 per cent of patients who don’t respond to various medications are deemed to have treatment-resistant depression, sometimes after they give up trying out of frustration, at which point they may need more doctors’ visits, including psychotherapy. They could also end up in hospital for electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) or other treatment, adding to health-care costs.
“One in 10 Canadians will experience major depression in their lifetime,” said Stirling, believing that widespread availability of pharmacogenomic testing could save billions of dollars throughout the country.
Beyond the financial savings, the study showed that an anticipated 1,869 lives would be saved over 20 years, Bryan said.
Few patients get a genetic test to determine which antidepressants could be best suited to them, but more people are choosing that option, usually by spitting into a tube they mail to a lab.
However, doctors may not know how to interpret someone’s genetic profile to help guide their prescribing decisions, said Bryan, urging more education on that through a program that would fund the testing.
Research on pharmacogenomic testing is also underway elsewhere in Canada.
Dr. Paul Arnold, a child and adolescent psychiatrist and director of the University of Calgary’s Mathison Centre for Mental Health Research and Education, is involved in a study for patients between ages six and 24 who are either starting on medication or about to switch to a different drug.
DNA samples have so far been collected from about 1,000 patients in Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Alberta, but the goal is torecruitanother 2,000 children and young adults, Arnold said.
The study initially included participants up to age 18 but expanded because most mental illnesses start before age 25.
The samples are being tested by a publicly funded lab but the hope is that costs could eventually be covered by the Alberta government depending on findingsafter researchers analyze prescribing patterns and changes in use of health-care services, Arnold said.
“The exciting thing about pharmacogenomic research is that you can see the immediate impact,” he said. “The goal is to catch (patients) early, before they go through that journey of having been on multiple medications without success.”
Dr. Jitender Sareen, a psychiatrist who is medical director of the mental health program for the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, said plans are underway to launch a study that would determine the impact of pharmacogenomic testing for hospitalized adults, including seniors taking medications for multiple conditions.
“Our aim is to recruit all adults but we wanted to start on our inpatient units because there is mixed evidence about whether this kind of pharmacogenomic testing can actually reduce the length of hospitalization,” he said.
Pharmacogenomic testing currently costs between $200 and $400, but providing it to everyone who needs antidepressants would benefits the health-care system, care providers in the community as well as patients, Sareen said.
“People get tired of trying different medications and this could at least help guide treatment.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 14, 2023.
Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.
The Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) is pleased to inform residents of North Battleford and area of the upcoming major capital infrastructure improvements to the Battlefords Union Hospital (BUH) operating room. These enhancements mark a significant step towards improving patient care, enhancing safety, and delivering exceptional health-care services.
To ensure the smooth progress of these needed improvements, temporary changes to surgical services will be in effect. Beginning at 5 p.m. on Friday, July 21, surgical services will be temporarily unavailable at BUH. Surgical services will resume at half capacity 8 a.m. on Tuesday, August 1. Full resumption of surgical services is expected on Tuesday, August 8 at 8 a.m.
No surgeries have been cancelled, as this is a planned improvement project. Obstetrical patients whose pregnancy is considered high-risk should contact their obstetrician or family physician in advance of their due date to discuss their birth plan.
In the event of an emergency, patients should call 911. If residents have questions regarding their health or mental health, professional advice is available by calling 811 to reach the Saskatchewan HealthLine toll-free 24 hours/day.
Facility upgrades and improvements support patient and staff safety and enhance service delivery. The investments in maintaining and upgrading the infrastructure at BUH will make a lasting impact that benefit patients, families, and health-care providers.
While some communities continue to struggle, one Sask. town finds health care success
BIGGAR — A combination of recruitment and incentives — getting nurses to come and then convincing them to stay — has helped at least one Saskatchewan community bring its health-care services back up to speed.
Last January, the community of Biggar was informed by the provincial government that its emergency room services would be closed. Elected officials took the lead on a proactive response but also took advantage of a provincial program to address such issues.
The town of approximately 2,150 people, located one hour east of Saskatoon, formulated a plan to accommodate health-care professionals in a housing unit. Since then, three new registered nurses have been recruited to Biggar to ensure 24/7 emergency room services and the operation of eight acute care beds in the community. The town is expecting a nurse recruit from the Philippines in February.
“We worked together to fix the problem, to fill the void,” Biggar Mayor Jim Rickwood said. “It wasn’t (the Saskatchewan Health Authority) that did it for us. It was us as a team that did it.”
Rickwood credits the SHA for its proactive engagement and support. While municipal leaders can work to help recruit, train and retain health-care professionals, they rely on the provincial government to provide financial incentives for practitioners to stay in or near rural areas, he said.
“Recruitment: that’s the big key. To recruit people to come out to rural Saskatchewan or even keep them in Saskatoon. If you’re going to recruit people, they’re going to come to your facility because you’re a good organization, you’re strong, you’re supportive.”
The SHA backed up the community’s work as part of its action plan, billed as Health Human Resources. The province recently touted some of its successes under the program, noting Biggar, Lanigan, Watrous, Canora, Kamsack, Wolseley, Oxbow, and Porcupine Plain are beneficiaries of recent recruitment efforts and virtual health-care access technologies.
A rural and remote recruitment incentive offers up to $50,000 to new employees in nine priority health occupations across 54 rural and remote communities in the province. Another incentive is the allocation of $10,000 for each health-care worker and their family to relocate to Canada.
While Biggar has experienced some successes, Premier Scott Moe’s government remains under consistent fire for what critics call its negligence on priority issues such as health care.
NDP MLAs Vicki Mowat and Matt Love last month addressed what they called a “crisis.” The strain has been affecting cities large and small across Saskatchewan, they said.
Mowat and Love noted that acute care services have been deemed temporarily unavailable in the town of Broadview since June 2021. In Wilkie, emergency and outpatient services have also been temporarily unavailable since June 2021. In Lanigan, Redvers and Wolseley, long-term services and hours of operation have all been reduced.
“We are working to ensure residents of rural communities have the services they need and appreciate their ongoing patience and understanding as we work to restore and stabilize these important local health services,” SHA vice-president Brenda Shawn said recently in a statement.
Earlier this month, the government said 43 internationally-educated nurses from the Philippines have been recruited to Saskatchewan and commenced on-site clinical training. The nurses are due to become licensed to start working before the end of the year.
Since the launch of Philippines recruitment program, more than 400 health-care workers have received conditional offers of employment from the SHA, according to the governemnt. Another 19 newcomers from the Ukraine have also been hired into the SHA workforce.
Rickwood said the government’s Philippine health-care worker incentive has worked well in Biggar, with health-care practitioners working in the town that includes a notable Filipino community.
Kimiya Shokoohi is the Local Journalism Initiative reporter for the Saskatoon StarPhoenix. The LJI program is federally funded by the Government of Canada.
Police say five people in Prince Albert were injured and taken to hospital after their vehicle crashed into a power pole on Sunday.
22-year-old driver taken to Regina hospital for serious injuries
CBC News ·
Police say once they arrived they observed a vehicle had collided with a power pole, and five people from the vehicle were taken to Victoria hospital for various injuries. (Carl Ballou/Shutterstock)
Five people in Prince Albert were injured when their vehicle crashed into a power pole Sunday.
Prince Albert Police Service said in a news release that officers responded to the crash at 12:46 a.m. CST. on the 1000 block of 22nd Street E.
Police saw that a vehicle had collided with a power pole, and five people from the vehicle were taken to Victoria hospital for various injuries, the release said.
PAPS also say the driver of the vehicle who is 22 years old, “has since been transported to hospital in Regina with serious injuries.”
The PAPS criminal investigation division and forensic identification unit are still investigating with the help of RCMP’s forensic collision team, and say there will be an increased police presence in the area.
Traffic restrictions are in place and PAPS is asking people to avoid the area for now.
Anyone with surveillance video facing in the direction of 22nd Street East, from 6th Avenue East to 10th Avenue East is being asked by PAPS to contact them.
