Closing essential rural health infrastructure a mistake

I grew up in a small town, but I’ve been a city dweller for most of my adult life. I’ve always lived near an emergency room, and I know the comfort that comes from close access to health care.

Too many people across this province live in fear that they won’t have access to an emergency room during life-or-death situations. They live in fear that the government is trying to take this peace of mind away from them, and they’ve witnessed years of service disruptions, health care facilities that are crumbling, and an ambulance system in need of serious reform. The government’s recent off-again on-again messaging around closing 12 emergency rooms across Saskatchewan has left citizens rightfully concerned about their access to rural health care.

And they have reason to be concerned. Of the 12 hospitals that were chosen to be closed, 11 of those communities have had serious disruptions to their emergency room services under the Sask. Party. The Davidson Health Centre saw 230 days of service disruption between 2013 and 2018, while Biggar’s emergency room was offline for 175 days. And in Wolseley, community members went 368 consecutive days where they had no emergency room to turn to in their time of need.

Residents of these communities aren’t taking these closures lying down. Less than a week old, the Facebook group Citizens Concerned about Rural Health Care has grown to 2,100 active and engaged members. They’re writing petitions, contacting their MLAS, talking to the media, and fighting to keep something we all value: health care that’s there when we need it.

Of course resources should be shifted if needed to fight COVID-19 outbreaks, but closing 12 rural emergency rooms before there was a surge in cases was premature. It was wrong. And instead of apologizing, Premier Moe decided to take a cheap shot at the NDP.

Rural residents I speak to aren’t concerned about what happened 20 years ago — they’re concerned about what’s happening in their communities right now. They’re concerned that the current government is taking them for granted. The Sask Party government’s inaction on rural health care speaks for itself: the expected cost of needed repairs in our hospitals, long-term care homes and clinics has skyrocketed to over $3.3 billion over the past decade. The government fails to recruit and retain staff to rural communities, which leads to lab closures, emergency closures, and other ‘pre-existing service disruptions’ that have become the status quo for far too many rural folks. And with the increased centralization of services, we’re all still waiting on the ambulance system reform that was promised over a decade ago.

Saskatchewan people have done our part in flattening the curve, and we will continue to do what’s asked of us. But we expect the government to do their part, too, and put people first by ensuring we’ve got access to health care when we need it.

Years of underinvestment in health care have been laid bare by this crisis. We need to re-open these ERS right away, and keep them open until or unless COVID-19 cases surge. Emergency rooms are essential rural health infrastructure, and closing them before the pressures of increasing cases made that absolutely necessary was a mistake. It’s time for the Premier to admit his mistake, stop taking rural Saskatchewan for granted, and start putting people first.

Vicki Mowat is the Saskatchewan NDP Health Critic.