The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Nor-Man Regional Health Authority CEO Drew Lockhart shared his wish list with the Chamber of Commerce yesterday. As guest speaker at the Chamber's first meeting of 2004 at the Friendship Centre, Lockhart said the NRHA has had success in recruiting physicians but must continue working to ensure the region is adequately served. "Our recruitment efforts are still ongoing," he told the 25 people on hand. "We estimate that we need at least another three to four physicians in Flin Flon to properly service this community." Lockhart mentioned the NRHA has been concentrating on specialty areas of health care, such as neurology and smoking reduction, and will continue to do so. The CEO said he would like to see more physicians with general surgical skills in the community, saying "far too many people" are sent out of Flin Flon for surgical procedures. "We have surgical capacity in our emergency room, and we would like to utilize that a little bit better," he said. Another desire of Lockhart's is to see the NRHA gain at least one more family physician to service patients from northeastern Saskatchewan. "It's important for us as a region to want to maintain our service to the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation," he said, "as well as the communities of Deschambault Lake, Sandy Bay and Pelican Narrows." But recruitment of physicians to this region continues to be a challenge, and not just because of its location. The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba, Lockhart said, has imposed a new provision requiring foreign-trained physicians to pass a three-day exam before being licensed in the province. It costs doctors $3,500 to write the exam. "This is not a requirement either in Alberta, B.C. or Saskatchewan," he said. "So we're competing with those three provinces for physicians and it puts us at a serious disadvantage, and we're going to have to deal with that." One way the NRHA hopes to better serve its patients is by integrating its primary health care services under one roof. These services include the Community Nurse Resource Centre and the Public Health, diabetes education, health promotion, mental health and home care departments. "We're optimistic that we will be getting that integrated program going towards the end of spring, early summer," said Lockhart. See 'Integrated' P.# Con't from P.# "The integration of services through our primary health care is going to be a major focus over the course of the next year." In Lockhart's view, the integration will allow health care staff to better share information and thus improve the service to the patient. Lockhart provided the example of an elderly woman, discharged from the hospital after surgery, who may require rehabilitation services, physiotherapy, home care, and Meals on Wheels. "We would attempt to identify all of those needs in one assessment and bundle that into a single package," he explained. The NRHA is still in the process of finding a location for these integrated services. Despite some challenges, Lockhart feels the health care system in Flin Flon is in better shape than that of other communities. He mentioned that the 'H' sign designating a hospital in a community has been removed from some highway signs in the province. The CEO expects that will continue to be a trend for some jurisdictions, but not his. "In this region we have three hospitals: Flin Flon, Snow Lake and The Pas," said Lockhart. "We don't intend to see any of those 'H' signs come down."
