Dear Editor,

After my letter to the editor last week, there is NO doubt in my mine how the people of the Southwest feel about our healthcare situation and the people at the top. I received an overwhelming amount of phone calls, e-mails, Facebook messages and people stopping me on the street. The line I heard most was, “I could not have said it better myself!” So common sense tells me I speak for a lot of people.
There are so many things I that just don’t make sense to me. So I have a few more common sense ideas for the Cypress Health Region upper management to think about.
Why have you not supported the idea of building a facility like Moosomin? You have made great efforts to come up with every reason not to copy Moosomin and very few if any to support the idea. How could it not be a sensible idea to copy the facility that someone has already tested out, and knows it works.
Moosomin has the same drawing area as we do. They take care of the small towns in the area. That part I think is wonderful!
This is what you have to learn Mr. Hornell is that teamwork is essential. I feel terrible for people that want to retire in a small town or maybe have lived in the area all their lives and can’t because of the medical services being so limited or non-existing.
I already know of people that have moved to Medicine Hat because of the doctor situation. An entire busload of rural people traveled to Moosomin to see their facility. I have heard so many positive comments from that trip. Common sense tells me a lot of money, time and errors could be omitted by using the Moosomin plan. In my opinion you can’t put a dollar figure on a healthcare facility in a rural area that has been tried and tested by the professionals who work there and the patients and residents who use it. What a great opportunity we have! I would guess the savings would be in the millions going this route.
The night you attended the Maple Creek town council meeting, I was very surprised and impressed to hear from the health region that they were trying to enhance and further educate our EMS in the region to a higher level. That’s very impressive to say that at a public meeting. But, I have learned with you guys that I never stay impressed for long.
We presently have one of your employee’s taking schooling to be a paramedic. You have no plans to employ her because we presently have no paramedics on staff in the Cypress Health Region. That’s where your kind of thinking just baffles me. This is a fantastic opportunity for this area to have one and you just shut it down. Just because Swift Current doesn’t have paramedics, does not mean the rural areas can’t. This is a person that plans on staying in our area with her husband and raising their family. Common sense tells me turning away trained people is just plain stupid.
A few more things have me scratching my head and wondering where is the common sense. Why would you insist we have an analog X-ray machine instead of an up-to-date digital machine? Why do you say we will never have oncology services in Maple Creek? Why do you think we should do with the bare bones of services? Why do you have a manager for everything little thing going and we have one manager for our entire hospital and you take that away from us? Why do you continue to say you are trying to recruit for us when Maureen George’s position as manager has not even been posted? How do you fill a manager position when you don’t advertise it? Why do we have primary health care and Shaunavon has fee for service?
Common sense tells me we need a new CEO and new upper management. We need upper management that will work with and for us in the rural southwest. Together we can make a difference! I am asking everyone to write letters, e-mail, or phone these people: Health Minister Don McMorris, Premier Brad Wall, MP David Anderson, MLA Wayne Elhard, chair of Cypress Health Region board Tyler Bragg and Cypress Health Region board members.

Julie Opsal
Maple Creek, Saskatchewan

Editor’s note: According to Cypress Health Board chair Tyler Bragg, the province decides what kind of equipment a region can purchase and the analog model in question can be upgraded to digital in the future. Dr. leRoux agreed to accept the primary healthcare model before he left in an attempt to secure additional physician coverage for the town. Shaunavon does not wish to switch systems.