(File photo/paNOW Staff)

By Ian Gustafson

New Experience

New child psychiatrist sets up in Prince Albert

Feb 22, 2021 | 8:00 AM

Child and youth psychiatry is very much in need in Canada and now Prince Albert is welcoming the return of a specialist at Victoria Hospital.

Newly recruited child psychiatrist Dr. Randy Zbuk told paNOW what drove him to come to P.A. was the opportunity to help in the reopening of the child and youth mental health inpatient unit.

“Inpatient psychiatry is my favourite thing to do and the opportunity to do that was perfect,” he said. “When I came to P.A., I found they did a great job of making me feel welcome, very collegial atmosphere, very thorough in the recruitment process and I like the town. The town’s been so wonderful to me.”

After it was closed following Prince Albert’s only child psychiatrist’s retirement last summer, the unit at the Victoria Hospital has reopened at half capacity.

He said they will be offering five inpatient beds with the goal to offer a total of 10 beds in the future as they get used to the processes.

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“In Canada in general, child psychiatry is really highly in need,” Zbuk said. “I come from Edmonton and the need was tremendously high there. And the unit being down for several months, almost a year, has put a lot of wait on the system and luckily, we’ve had a lot of help from Saskatoon in managing what would have been children and adolescents we would have managed. It would have been even more difficult.”

Other than living in Edmonton, Dr. Zbuk has lived in Toronto, Nova Scotia, and Vancouver. He has been a child psychiatrist for almost 10 years and spent most of his time at an inpatient unit in Edmonton but also has experience doing outpatient work.

As previously reported, the Saskatchewan Health Authority began a phased service resumption of the unit as of Tuesday.

He will be managing the care of “children and adolescents who are either at risk themselves or others or some very, very serious psychiatric conditions.” He added there is also a small component of outpatient care for emergencies.

He said the reopening of the unit is good news because it’s important to have the inpatient unit in close proximity to your catchment area. For example, he explained instead of the child being transported elsewhere, if they get admitted in P.A. they will be more in tune with the child’s needs and supports. He added transitioning out of the inpatient unit is easier when close to home as it is a hard time for children.

“Also being from P.A. the staff work with the northern communities, they know the northern communities, they know the key contacts. All those things are so essential in a child’s care so it’s essential to have a service up here,” he said.

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Ian.gustafson@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @iangustafson12