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THE OLDEST wEEKLY NEwSPAPER IN THE CANADIAN wEST
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Volume 132 Issue 12 Friday, May 30, 2014 www.minnedosatribune.com 90 cents plus tax
Weacknowledgethe
nancial support of the
Government of Canada
throughthe
CanadaPeriodical Fund
of theDepartment of
CanadianHeritage.
By JENNIFER PAIGE
H
ealth care services in Minnedosa continue to oper-
ate on a skeleton crew with little relief on the ho-
rizon.
Our biggest concern in Minnedosa right now is
Physician resourceswe are down to three Physicians
maintaining 24/7 on-call services for the acute care unit/
emergency room which is very tight and so the goal will
be to try and place additional Physicians in Minnedosa
when we have resources available to do that. However,
I dont have any specifc timelines on that, said Penny
Gilson, CEO of Prairie Mountain Health.
In late March the Minnedosa Medical Group wel-
comed Dr. Owojori, who has also been actively provid-
ing both general and emergency care.
Dr. Owojori recently signed a three-year commit-
ment to remain in the community. However, the sign-
ing of the contract is no guarantee that he will stay in
Minnedosa once the contract expires.
With the addition of Dr. Owojori, services continue
to press forward without immediate service disruptions
but the situation remains unpredictable with no guar-
antee for the future.
With only three physicians doing on-call, it is very
tight, Gilson said. If all of a sudden one physician
wasnt available for some reason, we could face some
disruptions. But for now, they are covering 24-7.
Prairie Mountain Health continues to use locum
physicians when necessary and has been depending
on the dedicated staf at both the hospital and clinic to
keep things up and running.
Registered nurse vacancies are an ongoing con-
cerncurrently 4.92 EFT vacant (seven positions). We
are currently hiring RN grad nurses into several posi-
tions, which will reduce our vacancies to approximately
three EFT in the coming two months, explained Greg
Paddock, care team manager with the Minnedosa
Health Care Centre. So far this has not afected hospital
services due to the hard work of existing RNs picking up
extra shifts/overtime and also utilizing agency nurses to
fll critical gaps.
Continued
on Page 6
No Service Disruption
For Now
Health Care Update
TRIBUNE PRINTING 204-867-3816
Photocopying * Flyers * Posters * Laminating * Receipt Books * Social Tickets * Rafe Tickets * Business
Cards * Invoices * Envelopes * Personalized Match Books * Brochures * Self Inking or Rubber Stamps *
Posters * Banners * Invitations * Thank You Notes * Personalized Napkins and More!
On Saturday afternoon
students from Tanners
Crossing School and the
LS!N (Lets Stop It Now)
group held their third
Annual Car Wash at the
TCS parking lot. Te group
raised just under $500.00
from the event. All proceeds
will be put towards LS!N
and Free the Childrens We
Create Change campaign
to build a school in Haiti.
Washin Wheels
Photos by Jennifer Paige