Assiniboia residents concerned as emergency medical services disrupted again

Assiniboia is shutting down emergency medical services 12 hours each day — not the first time it’s happened.

The ER has closed its doors multiple times due to staff shortages. This has some members of the community concerned and searching for solutions.

“We need our hospital in the town of Assiniboia, Sask. We have around 10,000.00 to 15,000.00 people in the surrounding area. We need doctors and nurses,” Darlene Wasyluk a resident of Assiniboia said in an email to Global News.

SHA media relations David Freeman said in a statement that Assiniboia Union Hospital is experiencing significant staffing challenges because of unfilled vacancies due to employees bidding on other positions, maternity leave, retirements, resignations and sick leaves.

“The current staffing shortages are the result of a number of factors including COVID-19 and retirements. Recruitment to address the staff shortages required to support the safe operation of Assiniboia Union Hospital emergency department is ongoing.”

The statement also mentioned that between Jan. 1 and April 30, 2022, the Emergency Department experienced 11 days of service disruptions due to staffing.

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“The SHA is committed to restoring 24/7 services to the emergency department in the community of Assiniboia as soon as we can address the human resource challenges we are currently facing and will continue to update residents as information becomes available.”

“Our community has been working with individuals from Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) as well as our local MLA David Marit’s office for many months now trying to come up with a solution/resolution for our disruption issues at our local hospital, with most recent a permanent ER closure at times during the evening,” said Sharon Schauenberg, mayor of Assiniboia.

She added plans for resolution are currently underway as they look forward to a positive outcome in the nearest future.

“Please be advised that, due to staff coverage issues, there will be a temporary disruption to Emergency Services at Assiniboia Union Hospital effective immediately,” SHA said in a news release.

The Emergency Department Services will only be provided from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily starting May 2, 2022.

Residents are being asked to call 911 in case of serious emergencies and for minor emergencies people are being asked to go to St. Joseph’s Hospital in Gravelbourg or Dr. F.H. Wigmore Hospital in Moose Jaw.