REGINA - Today, Official Opposition Leader Carla Beck and Health Critic Vicki Mowat were joined at the Legislature by Jolene Van Alstine, one of the thousands of Saskatchewan people waiting for surgery. Together they called on Scott Moe’s Sask. Party government to address the surgical and diagnostic backlog and to use windfall revenues to incentivize and recruit specialists.
“36,000 Saskatchewan people are waiting for surgery and they’re more than just numbers. All of us know someone - our mom or dad, kids, neighbours, relatives - who is not getting surgery and living in pain because of it,” said Beck. “Saskatchewan people deserve quality healthcare when they need it.”
Jolene, 42, has lived uncomfortably for over six years with Parathyroid Hyperplasia. She experiences abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea, low blood pressure, and has the bones of an elderly woman, suffering four fractures in the past two years. She and her partner, Miles Sundeen, maintain a temperature of 13 degrees at home to accommodate her irregular body temperature. She has been told that she’ll have to wait another several years for a specialist appointment before she can be placed on the surgery wait list, let alone have a procedure.
“Sadly, Jolene’s story is not unique. Tens of thousands of people are having to choose between waiting years in pain or paying thousands of dollars for treatment elsewhere,” said Mowat. “We urgently need to invest windfall revenues to get more medical specialists to shorten the wait for a diagnosis that is holding many people back from getting the procedures they desperately need.”
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Poor working conditions, favouritism, $300K travel nurse pay at issue
REGINA - Today, the Official Opposition released a letter signed by 49 emergency room nurses in Saskatoon. The letter slams the Sask. Party government for failing to support Saskatchewan nurses and curb the province’s reliance on expensive out-of-province travel nurses.
REGINA - Today, Official Opposition Critic for First Nations and Métis Relations Betty Nippi-Albright hosted a Day of Action with Indigenous leaders from Nekaneet First Nation, Yellow Quill First Nation, Waterhen Lake First Nation, Onion Lake Cree Nation, Carry The Kettle First Nation, Key First Nation and the residential school support team from Yorkton Tribal Council. Together, they continue to draw attention to the Sask. Party government’s disregard for the Duty to Consult process.
MOOSE JAW - Today, the Official Opposition stood with Taylor Enns, president of the Moose Jaw Firefighters Association, and Brayden Dutchak, the son of a cancer survivor. Together, they called on the Sask. Party government to reopen Saskatchewan’s only hyperbaric chamber.
Records show former Sask. Party Finance Minister lobbied for Calgary surgery scheme on behalf of a major Sask. Party donor
REGINA - Today, the Official Opposition grilled the Premier and his Minister of Health after the Minister misled the public, claiming that he had not been lobbied by a former Sask. Party MLA when Saskatchewan's official lobbyist logs show the exact opposite.