SASKATOON — Saskatchewan NDP Associate Shadow Health Minister Keith Jorgenson described the temporary closures in some rural hospitals as chaotic, with emergency departments — such as those in the town of Watrous — operating on limited hours and closed on certain days.
Jorgenson, the Saskatoon Churchill-Wildwood MLA, recalled that the Watrous District Health Complex would be open for 48 hours, then closed for two days, before operating again for either 16 or eight hours — in a somewhat roller-coaster pattern of working hours, which he said endangers the lives of residents who might need immediate medical attention.
"It's super chaotic, and the fact that the government is choosing not to tell people. They have mechanisms in place to inform people that the hospital is closed. They decided to keep that secret and the 12 closures that we know of this last month,” said Jorgenson in a media availability on Tuesday at the River Landing amphitheatre.
He added that they have been made aware of the closures through the social media pages of each town, such as Watrous — which he said is a strange way to inform the public of life-and-death medical information. The situation in rural Saskatchewan hospitals varies from one facility to another.
"The Watrous hospital, which I'm quite familiar with, serves an enormous area geographically. It's approximately five times the size of PEI, depending on the calculation method used. It's a massive area that periodically has no medical care, and I think what is alarming is you have to remember that if you live in rural Saskatchewan,” said Jorgenson.
“Often, you choose which hospital to rush to based upon which one's closer. If, for instance, you lived in Liberty, you might choose to go to Watrous, which is slightly closer than Lumsden. However, if you arrived at the Watrous hospital, you would have driven 45 minutes in the wrong direction and needlessly endangered someone's life by not informing them. It is bizarre.”
He said that the closures were personal to him, having experienced them firsthand.
“One of the hospitals that has been closing services is located in an area where my kids used to spend their summers. I remember my daughter needing medical care, driving her to a hospital. I imagine, as a parent, the rage I would feel if I showed up at a hospital to find out that not only was it closed and they couldn’t help my daughter, but the people running the health care system had chosen not to tell me and other people that their hospital was closed and that my daughter's life had been endangered because somebody chose to hide the fact that a hospital was closed. It's appalling,” said Jorgenson.
The NDP accused the government of negligent leadership in providing access to health care in rural communities across the province. Other communities — including Edam, St. Walburg, Paradise Hill, Kipling, Broadview, Herbert, Porcupine Plain, Preeceville, Shellbrook, Leader and Arcola — have all experienced health-care disruptions in the last two weeks.
SaskToday reached out to the government for comments regarding Jorgenson's claims, but we have not received a response as of the publication time.
