NO OTOLOGIST IN PROVINCE
Patient must travel to Edmonton
REGINA Ronda Ryerson can’t wait to hear music again.
The 52-year-old Regina resident became suddenly deaf in March 2017 after suffering an infection that caused inflammation to the nerves in her ears.
Ryerson hopes the hearing loss is temporary; she was told last year that she is a candidate for a cochlear implant, an electronic device that provides sound signals to the brain and partially restores hearing.
However, no one in Saskatchewan is capable of performing the complex surgery. The province’s only otologist — a highly trained doctor who specializes in diagnosing and treating ear issues — left the province in October 2017, around the time Ryerson learned she was a candidate for the surgery.
In a written interview, Ryerson said the news left her feeling “disappointed and uncertain.”
She learned that, in order to have her surgery, she would have to drive nearly eight hours to Edmonton for a pre-operative appointment with a surgeon and then return months later for her surgery.
“I am conflicted because I am thrilled there is such a thing as a cochlear implant, but the travel is stressful because I have to get someone to take me to make sure I understand what’s happening and to drive me,” Ryerson said.
Saskatchewan has been without an otologist since Nov. 1, 2017, when Dr. Nael Shoman moved to Nova Scotia.
In the 10 months before he left, he performed 65 cochlear-implant surgeries in Saskatchewan.
Shoman attended medical school at the University of Saskatchewan and completed a general surgery residency there. He then completed a four-year otolaryngology residency at the University of British Columbia. He moved back to Saskatchewan and became the province’s first and only otologist in early 2012 — a distinction he held throughout his five years in Saskatchewan. Shoman has not returned requests for comment about why he chose to leave.
The Saskatchewan Health Authority has had a job posting for an otologist on its website since January. A Ministry of Health spokesperson said in an email that the posting — which advertises a $550,000 salary — was sent to “15 separate surgical programs across the country and beyond.”
Eric Eggertson, a spokesman for the Ministry of Health, refers to the otology vacancy as a “difficult-to-fill position.” He says the Saskatchewan Health Authority has held site visits with three potential otologists since Shoman’s departure.
Amanda Purcell, a spokeswoman for the Saskatchewan Health Authority, said one of those otologists is expected to return for a second site visit in the fall.
Shoman had 870 patients on his surgical wait-list when he made the decision to leave; Purcell said he worked with the former Saskatoon Health Region to whittle that down to 338 patients. Some of those would have been referred to otologists outside Saskatchewan.
Eggertson said when medical services are not available in the province, the Ministry of Health has reciprocal billing agreements in place with other provinces, which means the Saskatchewan government pays for the procedures to be done out of province. Associated expenses, such as patient travel, are not covered.
In 2012-13, the first fiscal year Shoman was employed as an otologist in Saskatchewan, the province paid for seven cochlear implants to be done out of province.
The provincial government paid for 23 out-of-province cochlear implants in 2013-14 and eight in 2014-15.
Eggertson said the number of out-of-province cochlear implants the province has paid for since 2015-16 “has been fewer than five.”
Whatever the number, it’s poised to increase by one in the next three to four months when Ryerson gets her surgery.
Her sister is taking time off work later this month to drive Ryerson to Edmonton for what is expected to be a 10-minute appointment with an otologist. Ryerson then expects she will have to go back to Edmonton in December or January for the surgery on her left ear. If all works out, she may have to repeat the process in a year with her right ear.
Ryerson said she dreams of soon being able to hear Tori Amos on the piano, or Bob Marley singing One Love. In the meantime, all the upcoming travel is causing financial and mental stress.
The former victim-services worker is currently unemployed because of her hearing loss and is on Saskatchewan Assured Income for Disability (SAID), which provides an “exceptional needs benefit” for travel to medical appointments. Ryerson said she hopes this will cover most of her travel expenses, but noted that her sister will have to take time off work and lose wages to drive her to the appointment.
“If I wasn’t on disability, it would all be out of my pocket,” Ryerson said. “What does a person with no family to borrow from ... or doesn’t have disability funding, do financially in order to get out-of-province medical care? I am one of the lucky people. And think of those less fortunate.”