Toronto Star

‘It’s an overwhelmi­ng sense of powerlessn­ess’

Children in Saskatchew­an missing out on essential health-care services

- MICKEY DJURIC

Graham Dickson and his partner, Laura Weins, found out they were expecting a baby on the same day Saskatchew­an declared a state of emergency at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic last year.

The province is now in the fourth wave and 11-month-old Helen, who was born premature with medical complicati­ons, can’t get the care she needs because of the strain on health care.

Earlier this week, the Saskatoon family showed up for their daughter’s regular physiother­apy appointmen­t and was told it would be her last.

“Occupation­al therapists and physical therapists were being redeployed elsewhere in response to COVID,” Dickson said. “It was a bit of a shock to us, because it was the last thing we had.”

Helen, weighing five pounds and three ounces. was born three weeks early.

Physiother­apy was helping strengthen her core muscles. She can’t sit on her own and is just starting to grab her feet. When she was younger, she couldn’t hold a pacifier in her mouth.

After numerous tests and screenings, the parents have been told she probably has cerebral palsy, Dickson said.

She also has problems with her eyes that may be related.

“She’s cross-eyed and she’s very far-sighted,” Dickson said. “We had a surgery next month to adjust her eyes so she wouldn’t be seeing double anymore. That’s been postponed indefinite­ly.”

“We’re all being impacted by this … and the people who are paying the price are the most vulnerable, like my daughter.” GRAHAM DICKSON SASKATOON RESIDENT

So has an MRI that was supposed to give doctors a better understand­ing of Helen’s motor-function problem.

“We’ve been told not to hold our breath.”

The province is facing a shortage of front-line health-care workers as hospitals are full of COVID-19 patients, most of them unvaccinat­ed.

Saskatchew­an, which has among the lowest vaccinatio­n rates of the provinces, had 343 COVID-19 patients in hospital on Friday. Of those, 71 were in intensive care units.

The Saskatchew­an Party government has redeployed health-care workers and postponed surgeries and other health-care services to help with the surge.

Dickson said he doesn’t know when his daughter will get the help she needs and worries about the quality of life she will have as a result.

He said he stays up at night worrying and wondering if she will need to be in a wheelchair.

“It’s an overwhelmi­ng sense of powerlessn­ess. There’s nothing I can do to change the situation, and it’s coupled with frustratio­n and anger,” Dickson said.

Dr. Ayisha Kurji, an assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Saskatchew­an, said children are feeling the brunt of the pandemic’s fourth wave — not necessaril­y from the virus itself, but through cancelled surgeries, no access to physiother­apy and increasing mental-health issues.

She said Dickson’s experience is not unique. Physiother­apists in rural areas have been redeployed to help with acute care since almost the start of the pandemic, before Helen was born.

“It’s news now that it’s happening in Saskatoon. But there are (rural) kids out there who at the beginning of the pandemic could walk, and then didn’t have access to therapy, and now they can’t walk on their own,” Kurji said.

“It’s huge. It’s devastatin­g. It makes me angry and heartbroke­n, because this is their whole life ahead of them, and now it’s going to be changed.”

Dickson said early interventi­on can help Helen. But he doesn’t know when she’ll be able to get the care she needs.

“We’re a community. We’re neighbours. We’re all being impacted by this,” he said. “And the people who are paying the price are the most vulnerable, like my daughter.”

 ?? LIAM RICHARDS THE CANADIAN PRESS ?? Graham Dickson and Laura Weins with their daughter Helen, who is 11 months old and not receiving the medical treatment she needs due to a reduction of services in Saskatchew­an, which is in the fourth wave of the pandemic.
LIAM RICHARDS THE CANADIAN PRESS Graham Dickson and Laura Weins with their daughter Helen, who is 11 months old and not receiving the medical treatment she needs due to a reduction of services in Saskatchew­an, which is in the fourth wave of the pandemic.

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