Residents 'shocked' by temporary closure of emergency services in rural Sask. town

Jackie Van Dresarsays she was "shocked" when she heard she would no longer have access to emergency services at the Arcola Health Centre.

The hospital, locatedin the town roughly 175 kilometres southeast of Regina,holds a special place inVan Dresar's heart. If it wasn't for the facility and its staff,her young daughter Harper, may not be here today, she said.

Van Dresar said she didn't know what to do in October when her young daughter had a seizure at 13 months old. Luckily they live close to the Arcola Health Centre. Van Dresar said she carried Harperto the hospital, where staff quickly looked after her.

"It was everything knowing I had that service right there," Van Dresar said. "It was huge."

Nowsuch a trip wouldn't be possible. The Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) is temporarily shutting emergency-room services at the facility, alongside other 11 rural facilities, as part of its COVID-19 pandemic response.

"It's definitely shocking that they are closing it considering how many people actually need these services," Van Dresar said.

Shesaid the hospital is a lifeline for many in the area, as not everyone can drive an additional hour for help when time is of the essence.

"If we would have had to drive that hour, I don't know what we would have done and I don't know what the outcome would have been," she said.

Known active cases of COVID-19 have dropped significantly in southern Saskatchewan recent weeks, with only 11 known active casesoutside of northern Saskatchewan as of Thursday afternoon.

Arcola is set to hold an emergency council meeting on Thursday at 4:30 p.m. CST to discuss the partial closure of the facility.

The SHA said in a statement sent to CBC that the conversion of community hospitals to "alternate level of care" (ALC) sites is temporary. The SHA said the change was made to ensure it has "capacity to address potential surge in COVID-19 cases" and is necessary to"help us protect our most vulnerable populations"

"It will reduce traffic within these community hospitals, and will support the cohorting of staff, which reduces the risk of exposure," the statement said.

"This measure will also help us to increase capacity in our other sites for the potential COVID-19 surge in cases. Keeping patients and staff safe and healthy continues to be our number one priority."

On Wednesday, SHA CEO Scott Livingstone said there are various reasons the SHA is going ahead with the plan, despite low COVID-19 case numbers in the south. He notedit was announced weeks ago and said the SHA has discussed the changes with local leaders.

Echoing Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe, who said the reopening of the province will take place gradually, Livingstone said the SHA will closely be monitoring its COVID-19 outbreak capacity as the province reopens.

"We'll have to jump on those outbreaks and that may change the types of services we are able to offer to the community based on how we're managing COVID surges throughout this period of time," he said.

Van Dresar hopes the province reconsiders its plan. She said Arcola hospital offers locals a sense of comfort.

"A lot of it is security," she said. "They feel secure knowing that if they do have an emergency, they can have somewhere to go that is only 10 minutes away."

The SHAstatementsaid people living in these communities are asked to call 911 in case of emergency, at which time EMS can assess the patient, start treatment and transport them to the nearest available emergency department.

The SHA also noted a patient can travel to their nearest emergency department or call 811 for non-urgent health related questions.

The changes inArcola were part of Phase 2 of the province's plan to convert the facilities, alongside Wolsely and Davidson, with similar changes already taking place in communities like Lanigan, Broadview, Preeceville, Radville, Herbert and Kerrobert.

Facilities in Oxbow, Leader and Biggar are set to be converted in the coming weeks once Phase 2 of the plan is complete.

On Thursday,the province reported five new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number of cases reported in Saskatchewan to 582.