1,000 on Sask. First Nation have had no family doctor since last summer

The Saskatchewan NDP say 1,000 residents of Beardy’s and Okemasis Cree Nation north of Saskatoon have been without a family doctor since 2023, highlighting the state of rural healthcare in the province.

Willow Cree Health Services lost its family doctor in the summer of 2023 which the NDP says is forcing many at Beardy’s to travel to clinics or the small emergency room in the nearby town of Rosthern.

According to the opposition NDP, many in the community have fallen back into active drug use because the departure of the lone family doctor resulted in an abrupt end of a program known as The Opioid Agonist Therapy (OAT).

One third of the beds in the nursing home in Duck Lake have also been forced to close as a result of the lone physician’s departure.

NDP leader Carla Beck said it’s another example of Premier Scott Moe “driving health care workers out of the province.”

“We’re losing doctors, we’re losing nurses, and the Sask. Party won’t even admit that their staffing plan has failed. They’re ignoring local voices on the ground,” Beck said in a news release.

Minister of Rural and Remote Health Tim McLeod said it’s examples like this that are the reason for the province’s health, human resources action plan, a plan McLeod said is the most ambitious in the country.

“We are actively recruiting physicians to fill the vacancies including in communities like Duck Lake, this year’s budget includes eight more training seats for SIPPA (Saskatchewan International Physician Practice Assessment) so that SIPPA doctors we’re now training 53 total,” McLeod said, adding that many go to work in rural areas.

For those living without a family doctor though, waiting for new physicians to finish training is not an option.

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Duck Lake Mayor Bonnie Guigon, Duck Lake Reeve Remi Martin and Beardy’s and Okemasis’ Cree Nation Chief Edwin Ananas were joined at the legislature Thursday by Coun. Warren Seesequasis, Duck Lake and District Nursing Home chair Ray Gauthier, Willow Cree Health Services director Carla Seeseequasis and primary health coordinator Shasha Abdulnour.

All agreed the province’s current healthcare plan is not working, according to the NDP.

“This is having that ripple effect on our community because many people don’t have the accessibility to go to the city to see a doctor so they go without,” Chief Ananas said. “It’s causing so much hardship in our communities.”

Ananas said about 50 per cent of those living at the nearby nursing home in Duck Lake are from Beardy’s and Okemasis.

Anasas added that what McLeod sees as a solution by relying on Rosthern’s emergency room is not a solution in their eyes.

“It’s a solution in his eyes but not to ours, it’s not fulfilling our needs as we have well over 1,000 members without a physician now so we’re forced to find ways or people go without.”

“When we have a situation like this, obviously communication is a critical piece and that is something that we can certainly improve and I am happy to communicate with the delegation that is here and provide them with the most recent update,” McLeod said following question period on Thursday.