By Sarah Stone

Senior experiences ‘deplorable’ Northern health care system

Apr 25, 2013 | 6:20 AM

On Wednesday,  Saskatchewan NDP leader Cam Broten questioned the lack of available bed space for a terminally ill senior from La Ronge during the legislative assembly session.

“We’ve heard many examples over the past week of instances where the care for the seniors in our province is simply not up to the standards that we expect for our parents and our grandparents, and frankly Mr. Speaker it’s not close to the standard that they deserve,” Broten said.

Broten told the story of Barbara Blyth, a senior who lives in La Ronge battling her third round of cancer. Recently she broke her foot and was discharged from a La Ronge hospital, but when she arrived back at home her care worker concluded Blyth wasn’t able to care for herself safely and needed to be back in hospital.

When she tried to check back into hospital she was told there were no available beds. Following that Blyth tried to be admitted into long-term care or seniors space, but again was told there were no beds available.

Broten said this is a clear example of the lack of seniors care space in the North and it points to overcrowded hospitals and “chronic under-staffing”.

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He read for a public letter Blyth wrote days before she broke her foot, unaware she would be among the seniors turned away due to lack of space.

“There’s a desperate need for long-term care here in northern Saskatchewan, but I was not surprised at all to see it ignored when the budget came out recently. In 2010, a report indicated that La Ronge needs three times as many long-term care beds that it has currently, yet there’s nothing in the budget for the community,” he read.

Health Minister Dustin Duncan responded, admitting there is and has been a long-standing issue in long-term bed coverage within the North and particularly in the La Ronge, but they are currently trying to address those issues.

“We have tried to supply supports to that health region Mr. Speaker, through increased funding, as well Mr. Speaker where there are other options for care perhaps in personal care homes Mr. Speaker, we have provided additional funding and a new program through this government Mr. Speaker, to subsidize the cost of personal private care homes,” Duncan said, adding there is still a long way to go.

“I was deploring the level of care that is available and I ended the letter saying if this was the conditions in Swift Current Mr. Wall would have done something about it, so why hasn’t he done it [in La Ronge],” Blyth said about the letter she wrote. “He is not going to do a damn thing.”

“What a lot of people don’t understand is La Ronge, which is a large health district, only has 17 spaces for care of the elderly,” Blyth said.

She compared La Ronge to the Town of Nipawin, which she said is roughly the same size, but has around 300 elderly care spaces, making her believe La Ronge is not a priority.

“The currently government ignores us completely.”

Blyth currently is using home care and said the workers are “very good … but it doesn’t take the place of space and beds.”

In the legislative assembly, Broten said there is a “disconnect” between the state of the province’s economy and the actual dollars to facilities and front-line health staff.

“SaskParty government is stubbornly refusing to take the right steps in order to ensure that people like Barbara Blyth don’t end up in the situation that she experienced,” Broten said.

Minister Duncan came back at the NDP leader insisting they’ve updated and doubled the Seniors Income Plan, which is something the previous government hasn’t touched since 1991. He went on to explain more than $1.2 billion is required to replace or upgrade long-term health capital and the recent budget is currently addressing the needs of 12 long-term care facilities.

However, for Blyth, she wants to see improved funding for Northern health care and be able to trust the government to answer legitimate requests for help.

“I support this town, I support the district and I think there’s injustice and I think the current government’s attitude is totally unacceptable.”

sstone@panow.com

On Twitter: @sarahstone84