Emergency room closures causing concern for Assiniboia residents

REGINA -

Multiple closures of the emergency room at an Assiniboia, Sask. hospital over the past month have caused concerns for some residents.

The Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) said it closed the ER at Assiniboia Union Hospital on Aug. 13, 14, 15 and 18 because of staff shortages, causing area residents to travel to other hospitals for service.

Assiniboia resident Linda McCrank said she never knows when the emergency room is going to be open or closed.

“An emergency is an emergency, it needs to be dealt with as soon as possible, not being sent on further,” McCrank said.

She said it is easy for her to drive to the hospital and see if the doors are locked, but for those driving in from out of town, they could be wasting their time when they could be going to an open ER.

Brenda Schwan, the executive director of primary healthcare southwest integrated rural health with the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA), said closures are not just a problem is Assiniboia, but across all real hospitals in the province.

“We don’t like seeing it any more than the community does and we spend a lot of hours behind the scenes trying to strategize and we don’t take that easy to actually have an ER disruption,” Schwan said. “We try to overturn every stone to try and not have one.”

In a statement to CTV News, the SHA said whenever there is a disruption, the authority sends a public service announcement to local media and posts an advisory on its social media platforms.

McCrank said she understands there are staffing issues, but her bigger issue is with how the disruptions are being communicated.

“What senior who’s over 70 probably even uses Facebook? And if they do, do they have the SHA Facebook page in their Facebook?” McCrank said.

She would like to see the advisories put on local alert systems or the Sask. Alert App, so more people can see it.

The SHA said it is working with rural mayors, MLAs and hospital staff to come up with solutions to community concerns, adding it is currently working on recruitment efforts to address short staffing issues.

Schwan added that a registered nurse and licensed practical nurse have already been hired for the Assiniboia Union Hospital and are scheduled to start work in September.

The SHA said it is hoping to hire more staff for the rural hospitals across the province to minimize disruption issues.