The emergency room in Radville will open back up Wednesday morning, after being closed since 8 a.m. Monday due to a physician shortage. This closure was the 20th for the emergency room in Radville since July 1st.
In an email to DiscoverEstevan, the Saskatchewan Health Authority explained they are working to bring in another doctor through the SIPPA program who would start practice in the community in February. As well, the staff at the Radville Marian Health Centre are being trained in the virtual physician program.
The mayor of Radville, however, stated that isn’t the whole story of what is happening in that community.
“He’s got to come here in February, and then he’s going to have to go for training,” Rene Bourassa claimed when talking to DiscoverEstevan. “By what I hear from the people around the clinic, we’ll be lucky to see that person in June of July next year.”
As for the virtual physician program, Bourassa said it was initially unveiled a bit ago, but the staff wasn’t up to speed on it. Now, they are getting the training, but the introduction of it into the routine is slow.
Another point Bourassa raised was the issue of the town working to recruit a physician themselves to come to the community. He explained that the doctor is from southern Saskatchewan, and likes Radville, and would like to practice in the community.
“We want to give her a contract in the worst way, but for some reason, there’s a dispute there,” Bourassa said. “I don’t know if it’s with the doctor herself with the SHA or our staff in the clinic, but it’s got to be looked after.”
According to Bourassa, the town of Radville is supposed to have a roster of three physicians in the community, working out of the Radville Marian Health Centre. Currently, there are two doctors in Radville.
The majority of closures reported since June have been attributed to a physician shortage, with the Radville community alert system advising on five occasions the closure is due to a physician shortage. A number of other closures had no reason tied to it in the alert system messaging. There were several also attributed to a shortage of registered nurses. Bourassa explained the nursing situation has been stabilized in the community, but now they are dealing with the doctors.
The system itself is part of the problem, according to Bourassa.
“The standard... well to me, they’re not set for the small towns,” Bourassa said. “There’s things they could be doing in small towns, but why are they ignoring us? We have strong support here. We have those five towns that joined us. That’s what built our hospital.”
For Bourassa, he is doing everything he can to advocate for his community. He noted the people of Radville come to him over issues like the ER closures, and while he isn’t able to do anything himself directly, he is trying everything he can.
“I don’t like to stir the pot, but what else do we do?” Bourassa asked rhetorically. “We’ve tried, but these people, they’re not coming to us. It’s just... it’s really bad.”
“We’re not trying to make big waves, but this... this year is a big problem, and it’s got to be addressed,” the mayor continued.
In their email to DiscoverEstevan about the situation in Radville, the SHA highlighted the strains of finding adequate staffing as something being seen throughout Saskatchewan. They explained programs like the Rural Physician Incentive Program as well as the Rural and Northern Practice Premium are aimed to help address those issues.
UPDATE: An alert sent out through the town of Radville's alert system Wednesday morning advised the emergency room at the Marian Health Centre will be closed from 8 a.m. Thursday morning until 8 a.m. Friday morning.
**This story has been updated to reflect closures over the summer prior to July 1st, and the reasons for those closures.