‘Stork’ on hold at city’s hospital

Melville’s St. Peter’s Hospital has stopped delivering babies, at least temporarily.
Sunrise Health Region(SHR) vice president Suann Laurent says hospital staff felt so few women choose to have their babies in Melville they aren’t getting enough practice to ensure safe care.
“There’s been a temporary suspension of maternity services,” Laurent told The Advance during an interview after the SHR directors meeting last Wednesday.
“We had a very low volume of births in Melville — eight last year. The nurses never refused but they were nervous from the perspective they don’t have the volumes to keep current.”
Laurent was responding to concerns raised by Melville Coun. Mike Fisher during council’s meeting last Monday.
During that meeting, Fisher told council he’d learned recently SHR was curtailing maternity services at St. Peter’s Hospital.
Fisher was particularly upset SHR would discontinue an important service just as the city is enjoying its best economic upswing in a few decades.
“In light of the economic boom, it’s really bad PR. We’re trying to move forward and they’re trying to concentrate everything in Yorkton.
“I think it’s an important decision our people should know. I think we as a council should at least express our displeasure in this.”
Mayor Walter Streelasky told Fisher he was unaware of SHR’s plans.
“I know nothing about this,” says Streelasky, who’s also a SHR director. “Might I suggest we ask (SHR chief executive officer) Mr. (Joe) Kirwan here?”
Fisher agreed council should at least express its concern by asking Kirwan to explain the decision at a future council meeting.
“I think we have lots of experience of temporary transfers that become permanent because no one does anything about it. The problem is the decision has been made behind closed doors and I think that’s not right for our community.”
Meanwhile, Laurent says SHR must listen to its medical staff members when they express concern about their ability to perform a certain procedure.
“They were supportive of this initiative because it’s about patient safety.
“Whenever nurses bring forward something they’re not confident about, we’ve got to listen.”
Melville doctors will still be able to do pre-natal at St. Peter’s and they have privileges at Yorkton Regional Hospital (YHR) to assist in the deliveries.
Laurent says YHR currently handles about 600 deliveries each year. Although Laurent says the St. Peter’s suspension is temporary, she suggests it could follow the example of other communities and become permanent if the situation in Melville doesn’t change.
“We had the same type of temporary suspension in other areas years ago and it has gone to full reductions. That happened to Canora and Preeceville awhile ago.”
Meanwhile, SHR’s chief medical officer, Dr. Mike Bishop, says continuity of care won’t change for expectant Melville mothers.
The past practice is for expectant mothers to see their family doctor for the first 28 weeks of their pregnancy. After that, they are referred to a specialist who will deliver the baby with the help of the general practitioner.
If a pregnancy becomes critical for some reason, the mother will be transferred to the specialist’s care sooner.
Dr. Bishop says that past 28-week practice will continue.

Dissolution appears a certainty
Willowbrook’s days numbered

The days of Willowbrook’s status as a village appear to be numbered.
Provincial, RM and village officials told about 20 residents at a special meeting held in the former Willowbrook school last Tuesday they have until July 11 to object to a plan to dissolve the village.
However, during the meeting none of those present raised any objections or concerns about the dissolution decision.
Coun. Grant Garry told the crowd, which represented more than half Willowbrook’s residents, the meeting was set to explain the process of dissolving the village and making it a part of the RM of Orkney.
During an interview after the meeting, Garry told The Advance council has been fighting a losing battle to keep the village afloat financially for several years.
In early May, village council gave up the fight and passed a motion to begin the dissolution process.
Since then, Garry says RM of Orkney administrator Donna Litzenberger has been running the village’s financial operations.
And even that temporary stop-gap help relieves a lot of council’s
stress.
“Our funding was going down and everything else was going up. At least Donna can set a budget.”
Compounding the problem was the village’s inability to pay an experienced administrator to run its operation.
Because of that, he says the village missed out on available grants to help upgrade its roads, water system and community center, which has a badly leaking roof.
The problem came to a head this spring when the village was unable to send tax notices to its property owners.
“In the last year-and-a-half, four administrators have quit. It’s too overwhelming. That’s why we didn’t have tax notices this year.”
Ministry of Municipal Affairs official Carol Ingham told residents the village and RM councils have already moved along in the dissolution process.
Village council has already completed the first step by passing a resolution to dissolve and negotiating an agreement with the RM. It also completed the second step of setting up the information meeting.
“The purpose of the meeting is to explain the process and give all the people of the Village of Willowbrook a chance to express their view and learn how to object.”
After the meeting, she says the RM and village councils will forward the request to the province for ratification. The councils hope to have the dissolution officially completed by July 30.
However, Ingham says the ministry will consider all written objections
to the process before making a final decision.
The other ministry representative at the meeting told residents if dissolution moves ahead, Willowbrook won’t fall completely under the RM.
In this case, Municipal Affairs official Colleen Christopherson says, both councils agreed Willowbrook should fall under the Special Service Area (SSS) category.
“One advantage of a SSS is the RM can set a different mill rate and provide different services. So the RM can provide you with the services you require.
“You might have some issues with your street lights, water or sewer or there might be services you want and don’t currently have. And you are taxed accordingly.”
Currently Willowbrook doesn’t have a sewage system. Each home has its
own septic tank. As well, Garry says there’s only about eight homes linked to the
village’s water system, with the rest having their own wells.
The province doesn’t consider Willowbrook’s water fit to drink. Customers are only allowed to use it for cleaning.
Litzenberger also told residents she is working on tax notices and should have them mailed by Sept. 1.

© The Melville Advance Pub. Co. 1986 Ltd.

A PREMIER HONORED - Lemberg Mayor Herb MacDonald, left, and Lt. Governor Dr. Gordon unveil the plaque that now stands at the head of the grave of former Saskatchewan premier James G. Gardiner. The unveiling was one of the highlights of the Saturday’s re-enactment of the historic debate between Premier Gardiner and R.H. Hawkins of the Ku Klux Klan. The actual debate occurred June 28, 1928.