How many sticks do they have behind their back? Or is this just another stupid human trick?

Cypress Health Region – Shaunavon Hospital

The watch dog is getting confused and even more frustrated with the ‘creative’ tricks management in Cypress is rolling out these days

First they tried replacing regular staff with contract staff. That didn’t work. So…

As of July 8, 2011 the Shaunavon Hospital and Care Centre will see RNs working all days – 12 hour days.

The RNs will be self-scheduling.

The dog asks: ‘What happens to LPNs if the RNs are self-scheduling?’

Shaunavon Hospital will magically become a ‘Health Centre’. But wait, the doctors won’t agree to call the hospital a health centre so a more ‘creative’ name is in the works.

Might we suggest, save the signage re-printing money and keep it a HOSPITAL????

So while the Hospital is only running 12 hours instead of it’s mandated 24 hours, EMS will sit in the ‘hospital’ parking lot for 12 hours like an emergency tent that they put up for outdoor festivals.

EMS workers will have to assess the person in the ambulance and then tell the patient where to go…return the next day for more care or if the situation is dire enough… they will take the patient by ambulance to Swift Current.

Wait, aren’t ambulances supposed to take people to Hospitals? Not sit outside them and wait for people to come to them?  When did they become emergency clinics?

If this isn’t confusing enough, consider the fact that they have perfectly willing people waiting to work. A retired member of SEIU-West (she just retired in February) is willing to pick up LPN shifts on a casual basis but the employer has told her ‘Wait until August’.

Why?  If asked, Management will indicate that this is because of the CHESS program.

Admittedly, the logic in all of this is not entirely clear.  We will have more on this story…stay tuned.

It's getting scary out here!

Gull Lake Special Care Centre - Cypress Health Region

It seems temporary disruptions of service are a chronic condition in Cypress Health Region...or is this a rural nightmare?

Who was out of luck on June 15, 2011? The residents of Gull Lake.

It may be one day, but as residents of Leader found out, one day leads to two, leads to three, etc... before you know it, your community is in a full-blown "temporary closure" mode. Now it has been over a year.

Residents of Wakaw are experiencing a threat of closure at their hospital too. And the list keeps growing in rural Saskatchewan.

This watchdog encourages the residents living in the Cypress Health Region to take advantage of the offer on this flyer (pictured below) and call the Health Services Manager and share your concerns about the epidemic of temporary disruptions of service in the Cypress Health Region.

It’s about dog-gone time…

Leader Hospital – Cypress Health Region

Congratulations to the town of Leader. The Cypress Health Region confirmed that they will be re-opening the hospital for acute care services effective June 20, 2011.

Temporary, in this case, meant just over a year of no hospital acute care services.

This watch dog is encouraged by this news and is hopeful that this isn’t a temporary re-opening.

Here’s hoping that it doesn’t take the Saskatoon Health Region as long to re-open the Wakaw Hospital.