Assiniboia is one of more than a dozen Saskatchewan cities that have faced a health care disruption in the past month.
Assiniboia Union Hospital is experiencing a disruption of its intensive care bed service, according to the city’s mayor, Sharon Schauenberg. However, it is known how many beds and patients are affected.
The Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) has shown that this is not a permanent bed closure, but a temporary disruption due to a COVID-19 outbreak.
“Lately, the facility is experiencing a COVID outbreak, which has resulted in a cohort of staff to ensure safe and uninterrupted care for those in need. Because of those challenges, our ability to settle for new clients is limited,” said Dr. Johann Roodt, interim principal physician at Integrated Rural Health.
“SHA has sensitized network leaders to those advances and will continue to do so as it evolves. “
Regular operations will resume once the outbreak is over, Roodt said.
Regardless of the length of the interruption, some citizens suffer repeated interruptions in health care.
“Do you know what’s going to happen? Someone is going to die and find a solution,” said Susan Jalbert, an Assiniboia resident and former fitness worker.
Jalbert returned to the network two years ago to care for his elderly parents at home. He said it about the inaccessibility of physical care.
“Transportation is a problem,” he said.
“Going online requires, for my parents, for me or calling an ambulance. “
According to the government, 17 rural hospitals experienced temporary emergency disruptions between July 1 and August 8.
The disruptions are the result of shortages across the country and province.
“COVID has increased the need for gyms at the national and provincial level and, given the specialized nature of healthcare workers, workforce growth has not kept pace with demand,” according to a Ministry of Health official.
“While the number of practising nurses in Saskatchewan has exceeded thirteen in line with one hundred over the past five years, several points have led to recent difficult situations in meeting the demands on the health care system.
The government fills vacancies with more shifts if necessary, as hired and informal staff.
However, the official opposition refers to the difficulties of hiring and the lack of tasks created through the SHA.
NDP leader Carla Beck, who traveled to Assiniboia on Tuesday to talk about residents’ health issues, said city staff were tired and unable to take vacations in many cases.
“We heard that in this center they work up to 16 hours a day. We’ve heard about doctors on call for almost a hundred hours straight,” Beck said.
Saskatchewan. La leader Carla Beck traveled to Assiniboia on Tuesday to talk about residents’ considerations about the community hospital. (Allison Bamford/CTV News)
The University of Saskatchewan School of Nursing is doing its best to exercise nurses across the province.
Enrollment figures show that at least 345 scholars have been admitted to the nursing program year over the past five years.
However, the festival is much higher with over 700 to 800 people applying for the program year.
According to the dean of the Faculty of Nursing, Solina Richter, 62 more places will be added in January. Another 62 places per year will be added for 4 consecutive years to increase the number of registrations.
“Training more nurses is just one solution and of course it’s a four-year training, so it’s not a quick fix,” Richter said, adding that it will be more than three years before the shortage is fully resolved.
“We also want to take care of our existing workers, retention is very important. We want to make sure nurses are valued.
Richter said a multiple technique would be needed in several other sectors to deal with the problem, adding that everyone feels the shortage has been exacerbated through the pandemic.