Sun Country News

Lab Services in SCHR

Did you know Sun Country Health Region offers lab services close to you?
Lab services and hours of operation
Arcola Health Centre
607 Prairie Avenue
Arcola
455-2771
Monday to Friday, 7:30-5 p.m.

Bengough Health Centre
400-2 Street. W.
Bengough
268-2840
Monday to Friday, 8-4 p.m.

Coronach Health Centre
240 South Ave. E.
Coronach
267-2022
Monday to Friday 8-4 p.m.

Fillmore Health Centre
100 Main Street
Fillmore 722-3855
Monday to Thursday 8-4 p.m.

Gainsborough and Area Health Centre
312 Stephens Street
Gainsborough
685-2277
Monday to Thursday 8-1:30 p.m.

Galloway Health Centre
917 Tupper Street
Oxbow
483-2958
Monday to Friday 7:30-5 p.m.

Kipling Memorial Health Centre
803 1 Street
Kipling
736-2553
Monday to Friday 7:30-5 p.m.

Lampman Health Centre
309 2 Ave.
Lampman
487-2563
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, 8-4 p.m.

Pangman Health Centre
211 Keeler Street
Pangman
442-2044
Monday 8-1:30 p.m.
Thursday 8-4 p.m.

Radville Marian Health Centre
310 Railway Ave.
Radville
869-3322
Monday to Friday 7:30-5 p.m.

Redvers Health Centre
18 Eichhorst Street
Redvers
452-6463
Monday to Friday 7:30-5 p.m.

St. Joseph’s Hospital
1176 Nicholson Road
Estevan
637-2408
Monday to Friday 7:30-5 p.m.

Wawota Memorial Health Centre
609 Choo Foo Crescent
Wawota
739-2306
Monday to Thursday, 8-4 p.m.

Weyburn General Hospital
201 1 Ave. N.E.
Weyburn
842-8447
Monday to Friday 7:30-5 p.m.  

The View from the desk of Marga Cugnet, Interim CEO – January

Technology is not the sole answer to the provision of more efficient and effective health care. We know that without the human touch, and compassionate human thought, we might as well provide health services with robots.

But the effective use of good technology can be very exciting. Telehealth is a great example.

Sun Country Health Region has dramatically expanded the availability of this service in the past five years to patients, their families and our staff.

We now have sites at Arcola Health Centre; Bengough Health Centre; Coronach Health Centre; St. Joseph’s Hospital – 3 sites; Fillmore Health Centre; Galloway Health Centre, Oxbow; Radville Marian Health Centre; Redvers Health Centre; Wawota Memorial Health Centre; Weyburn Community Health Services Building; Weyburn General Hospital; Kipling Health Centre; Tatagwa View and Gainsborough Health Centre.

We have requests for seven more sites, which we hope to add in the near future.

These sites can be connected to any of the thousands of Telehealth sites in the world at any time, night or day, and inter-connected to one another.

What can this do for you?

1. Telehealth allows you to see a specialist close to home, rather than traveling hours or days for what might be a 15-minute appointment. That is a critical benefit for our residents, in a health region with as many small, rural communities as we have.

It saves driving time, expense and inconvenience, both for the patient and client, and for the health care provider. Imagine not having to worry about parking or driving to unfamiliar destinations!

Specialists don’t like to spend hours driving to appointments any more than patients do. In fact, with Telehealth, we potentially have better access to a wider variety of specialists that we did previously. Patients are booking regular appointments with physicians inEdmontonandToronto, as well as those inSaskatchewan.

A random sampling of time, between Jan. 12 and Feb 4 of this year, shows that patients and clients from all over the Region will avoid driving 23,870 kilometres by using Telehealth services. That’s just in three weeks!

This number does not include the large amount of driving time saved in that same period by our staff members, who often attend education sessions or meetings by Telehealth. Those are sessions they may not have been able to attend because of cost or the lack of replacement staff.

 2. Telehealth allows for more collaborative medical practice, which is the way of the future.

Our Telehealth interconnections make it possible for many different kinds of health care providers to hear directly what the specialist has to say about a patient/client. In other words, with the patient’s approval, another member of your health team, like a public health nurse, Autism Spectrum Disorder worker, Group Home Supervisor, Teacher or member of the Regina Wascana Rehabilitation Team can join your appointment with your specialist.

A family member from another health region can even join your appointment.

This team approach can reduce mistakes and misunderstandings and help both patients and providers understand what’s going on.

The opportunities are endless: appointments for mental health counselling, wound checks for post-operative care, disease management for dialysis patients. In fact, research shows that patients feel they get a better service and, in some circumstances, are more satisfied with the services provided by Telehealth than with a personal encounter.

Telehealth is only one of the new technologies we use to help us help you. It can work wonders. For further information, discuss options with your specialist, family physician, or other health team professional.

Stomach flu making the rounds in the Region

Sun Country Health Region (SCHR) has experienced an increase of gastrointestinal illness (stomach flu) during the last couple of weeks. The Region has seen the impact in its emergency rooms, and has two norovirus outbreaks in its health care facilities.
Dr. Shauna Hudson, Medical Health Officer and Dr. Alain Lenferna, Vice President, Medical for Sun Country Health Region want to remind people of the steps to take to limit its spread. 
The gastrointestinal illness making the rounds can be caused by many different viruses and bacteria. Norovirus is on common cause of the vomiting and diarrhea.
The steps to take to prevent the stomach flu can be found on the website at http://www.suncountry.sk.ca/

The View, from the desk of Interim CEO Marga Cugnet – December

Physician recruitment is one of the most difficult subjects in health care in Saskatchewan today.
In spite of the fact that health regions, local citizen/municipal committees and the provincial Saskdocs recruitment agency are all working hard to find more doctors, there are still 130 vacancies all around the province.
The CBC found 22 communities affected by doctor shortage in a survey it conducted this summer. We are not the only Health Region struggling.
Recruitment is not the only solution. Retention is just as important. In Sun Country Health Region, we recruited 26 physicians to the Region between 2008-11. Only eight of those recruited are still active in the Region.  
We need to change that trend. We need to attract doctors, and then keep them.
We need to ensure that doctors will have the kind of practice that allows them to enjoy a life outside the office; a manageable patient workload, sufficient remuneration, and professional colleagues available when they need them.
Research into rural recruitment in Canada tells us this is what young doctors want. To keep them, this is what we need to provide. The old-fashioned doctor working solo to serve a community 24 hours a day is no longer possible.
That change does not always coincide with what the rural communities want.
While residents of the Region want doctors close at hand for medical treatment, many of their elected councils also think of access to doctors and emergency departments as part of an economic development plan. They know it’s harder to attract residents and business to a community once the school closes and/or the doctor leaves.  
Unfortunately, it hasn’t been possible here for many years in many communities. For good reasons. The World Health Organization (WHO) says there is a worldwide shortage of physicians, with more than 50 countries experiencing a severe shortage. In 2006 (the latest information available), Canada had 2.1 practising physicians per 1,000 people, compared to the average (in economically developed countries) of 3.1.
The provincial government is working with us. It just announced several new programs. Up to $120,000 in student loans for new physicians and $20,000 in student loans for new nurses and nurse practitioners will be forgiven for those agreeing to practice for five years in rural and remote communities. The government also announced a pool of 20 doctors will be available on a temporary basis (as locums) to provide relief for existing rural doctors.
This is helpful for our retention plan and  makes it possible for doctors to take vacations, or professional upgrading, and for us to avoid temporary closures at our emergency departments.
Insanity is defined as doing the same old thing and expecting different results. We need to change our strategies to achieve better and different results.

Yvonne McNeil, Home Health Aide for Home Care in Weyburn has been collecting Christmas hats for some time and now has one for every day in December.  Her clients, and even the other residents of buildings wait to see what hat she’ll be wearing each day!  On Christmas day, Yvonne dresses as Santa and if she is not working she visits some of her clients.

Put Life Back in Your Life

Live Well™ is a self-management program available in Sun Country Health Region for people who are living with or caring for someone with a chronic illness, including but not limited to diabetes, arthritis, heart disease, chronic pain, kidney disease, stroke, asthma and depression.

This community-based program is led by trained peer leaders, many who have chronic conditions themselves and can model healthy lifestyle choices.

Topics covered in the program include effective communication strategies for loved ones and health professionals, dealing with difficult emotions, goal setting and action plans, medications, nutrition and physical activity.

Since SCHR started offering the Live Well™ program in 2008, our team of Peer Leaders have offered 15 sessions to 125 participants across eight different communities. The free of charge, six-week program was offered this fall in Kipling, Weyburn and Carlyle.

Keep your eyes peeled for the Saskatchewan government’s bright green and orange posters and brochures. If you are interested in learning more about the program, becoming a Peer Leader or to register for future sessions please contact (306) 842-8711.

More people receive flu shot this year

More people have received a flu shot in Sun Country Health Region (SCHR) this fall than last year. Almost 8,400 people have been immunized at the public clinics in this Region this year, compared to just over 8,200 at the same time last year.

SCHR strongly recommends seasonal influenza vaccine for everyone. Individuals who will benefit most from influenza immunization include:
- Adults 65 years of age and older
- People with chronic health conditions or severe obesity
- Pregnant women (during any trimester)
- Residents of nursing homes or other care facilities
- Children from 6 months of age to 23 months of age

Dr. Shauna Hudson, Medical Health Officer for SCHR says “we also want to protect the family members and contacts of the individuals listed above so they don’t spread influenza to the people most at risk for complications.”

Influenza vaccine will be provided up to February 29, 2012 to children who are 6 months to under 9 years of age at the time of immunization. For those children, aged 6 months to under 9 years of age receiving their first influenza immunization, a second dose is required one month later and this will be available until March 31, 2012.

To make an appointment for a flu shot for you or your child, call your local public health office at: Weyburn Public Health – 842-8618
Carlyle Public Health   -  453-6131
Redvers Health Centre –  452-3464
Coronach residents call   869-2555
Oxbow Public Health  –   483-2313
Kipling Public Health  –  736-2522
Radville Public Health –  869-2555
Estevan Public Health –   637-3626

Students discuss the mentoring experience

Sixteen high school students from around Sun Country Health Region gathered in Weyburn on Dec. 8 after completing the fourth part of their mentorship experience with the Pre-Health Professional Club. 

They were there to celebrate and discuss the mentoring experience.

Christel Gee, Coordinator of the Club for the University of Saskatchewan; along with Marga Cugnet, Interim CEO; Stella Swertz, Education Coordinator; Arlene Hand, Recruitment Assistant; Kim Balog, Mentorship Coordinator, all with Sun Country Health Region; Moira Grayson and Pat Ferguson, South East Cornerstone School Division’s Career Development Department, attended the event.

The Pre-Health Professional Club provides an opportunity for high school students to observe the work of a physician/nurse/pharmacist/dietitian or physical therapist in a health practical setting. It is intended to help encourage the students to enter a health care field after high school.

New service offered

Sun Country Health Region’s Therapy Department in Estevan is pleased to announce the implementation of a Women’s Health program to treat bladder control problems. As many  as 50 per cent of women will experience some kind of bladder control problems in their life time. For an appointment, please call 637-2410.
Bladder training and pelvic floor exercises were being offered in early December.

Don’t forget your health card!

Please remember to bring your Saskatchewan Health Card, or out-of-province health card, with you each time you come to a Sun Country Health Region facility for treatment.
All Canadian residents are required to show their health card so that we can determine if you have valid health care coverage.  Please remember to put your renewal stickers on your health card. The expiry date for existing Saskatchewan health cards is December 31, 2011.
Sun Country Health Region must verify that you are a Saskatchewan or out-of-province resident entitled to health coverage or you may be charged for the visit.
If you need a new card, go to http://www.health.gov.sk.ca/heath-card-apply-online-common-questions.