‘I’M AMAZED SOMEONE DIDN’T DIE’ — RURAL PATIENTS SENT TO SHUTTERED EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT AS HOSPITAL CLOSURES OVERLAP

SASKATOON – This week, the Saskatchewan Health Authority instructed patients needing life-and-death emergency care to drive an hour to an emergency room that was not actually open.

Monday and Tuesday, the emergency rooms in Davidson and in Outlook were closed simultaneously. Patients needing emergency care in Outlook, however, were told to drive an hour to the Davidson. Upon arriving at the closed Davidson ER, patients had to drive another hour to Saskatoon.

“I'm amazed someone didn’t die,” said Keith Jorgenson, Associate Shadow Minister for Rural and Remote Health. “And this is just the tip of the iceberg. We’ve heard reports of this happening in many different communities — now, we have photographic evidence to prove it.”

Healthcare closures have steadily worsened under Scott Moe’s leadership. In the first 18 months of his premiership (February 2018 to July 2019), there were 86 closures, totaling 808 days of lost healthcare service.

In the most recent 18 months for which data is available (November 2023 to May 2025), that number skyrocketed to 643 closures, totaling 3,362 days of lost service.

“Healthcare in our province is getting worse by the day,” said Jorgenson. “After 18 years in power, the Sask. Party is out of ideas and out of touch with the hardworking people on the frontlines.

“The Sask. Party and their friends in the health authority are slowly closing these rural hospitals — and residents are rightly worried about the future of their communities under this government.”

A new survey from the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses shows 92 per cent of registered nurses have seen services shut down because of short staffing.

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