Shoal Lake hospital diagnostic services suspended

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This article was published 08/09/2020 (2071 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Roblin is not the only Westman community to be impacted by the government’s recent decision to temporarily consolidate diagnostic services for the area at the Russell Health Centre.

All diagnostic services at the Shoal Lake/Strathclair Health Centre in Shoal Lake were also temporarily suspended beginning Sept. 1 after a diagnostic services employee from the facility was transferred to fill a staff vacancy in Russell. The employee from Shoal Lake was transferred at the same time as two other medical lab assistants previously employed with the Roblin Health Centre.

Merv Starzyk, mayor of the RM of Yellowhead, said he was informed of the changes approximately 10 days before they were scheduled to take effect, during a conference call with Penny Gilson, CEO of Prairie Mountain Health and Petr Kresta, chief operating officer of Shared Health diagnostic services.

Starzyk said the news “came as such a surprise.”

“It would have been nice to get advance warning there was a chance we might have to close (diagnostic services) … but nothing, nothing of that sort.”

This isn’t the first time the Shoal Lake residents have witnessed the loss of some of the community’s medical services. The Shoal Lake/Strathclair Health Centre has been without an emergency room since 2015 because of doctor resignations.

Closure of the emergency room is also something that the province said was temporary, Starzyk said, but now it has been closed for a few years.

“We’re very disappointed.”

Residents are concerned about the future of health care in their communities and how far people will need to travel to access services. Starzyk said that people have been contacting the local MLA and that a former mayor submitted a letter with his concerns to the local newspaper.

On Sept. 2, another piece of unexpected news came when Shared Health informed the municipal council that a new medical lab assistant had been hired at the Shoal Lake health centre.

A spokesperson for Shared Health confirmed in a statement on Sept. 3 that the position had been filled.

“This new hire will allow for the resumption of Monday-to-Friday laboratory services at the facility starting Sept. 21. This will include phlebotomy services (such as blood sample collection for lab analysis) for both the clinic and personal care home. The MLA will also be able to perform ECG exams,” the statement said.

“Until the staff person arrives, phlebotomy services will be limited to one day per week (Sept. 8 and Sept. 14) in Shoal Lake.”

Even with the news that some services will once again be available at the Shoal Lake/Strathclair Health Centre, Starzyk said that the community would eventually like to see both diagnostic and emergency services fully restored.

“We’re happy to receive that, absolutely, but … (Prairie Mountain Health) did promise that they’re going to continue to try and locate somebody that would do (X-rays) and reinstate our diagnostic services back to its original level.”

 

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