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Mercury
Wed., Feb. 12, 2014
www.estevanmercury.ca
Issue 41
SERVING THE ENERGY CITY FOR 111 YEARS
Elecs Trail in McLeod Series
Wait for CT scan to continue Mailing No. 10769
By Chad Saxon and Norm Park of The Mercury As the gears of government continue to grind, it appears a decision on the bid to acquire a CT scan unit for St. Joseph’s Hospital may not be included in the upcoming budget. The Southeast Health Committee has been working for the better part of two years to secure the piece of equipment for Estevan. In early 2013 the committee made an offer to the province, which would see all funding for the CT scan and the first two years of operation come from local sources. Despite that offer, the committee is still waiting on a decision over one year later. Committee chairman and Estevan Mayor Roy Ludwig was in Regina last week for the annual Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities meeting. While in the Queen City, Ludwig
“If we put a policy in place that looked like the Estevan proposal, others may not be in a position to do that. The optics wouldn’t be right.” – Health Minister Dustin Duncan and Councillor Greg Hoffort, who is also the executive director of St. Joseph’s Hospital, met with Health Minister Dustin Duncan to discuss the matter. Ludwig said Duncan informed him and Hoffort that the government is working to get parameters in place “because although some communities actually need this type of diagnostic (equipment), not all communities who may have the money to help need them, so there has to be a type of means test.
“He is going to nail that down, get that in place and hopefully by spring he is hoping to have these parameters in place and we can look at what we need if we don’t already have it in place.” In an interview Friday, Duncan said his ministry is currently working on the policy and he hopes to present it to cabinet this spring. “We need to know where we are going with a policy regarding diagnosis in the province,” Duncan
said. “We know there is the need, but the question is, can we do it in a sustainable way and ensure the community can attract the professional people required to support it. There are a handful of regions without CT services and without a policy we’d have to continue with an ad hoc process.” The offer from the local committee to pay for a CT scan and two years of operation was initially made to the province in
January 2013. Since then, they haven’t been told no, but they also haven’t been told yes, leading to frustration and grumblings that politics are behind the lack of a decision. Duncan acknowledged that politics are part of the decision, since other areas of the province may not have the financial wherewithal to match the offer made by the committee. “If we put a policy in place that looked like the Estevan proposal, others may not be in a position to do that. The optics wouldn’t be right,” he said. “Sun Country isn’t the only region with a gap in diagnostics, there are others, so what is the best way of doing it?” The MLA from Weyburn-Big Muddy added that the issue boils down to two issues: getting a provincial policy in place and then to determine what the province can do and when
and where they can do it. “There is no (provincial) budget implications connected to the Estevan proposal so you may not hear anything about it in the spring budget but there will be a clear picture for the province and Estevan later this spring.” Although the wait will continue, Hoffort said he remains optimistic that the committee will eventually be successful in its bid. “It is getting serious consideration, it’s where it needs to be to get the decision made but it’s taking longer than we’d like it to.” Hoffort said. “They want to make sure they have a protocol in place because certainly we are not the only ones looking for improvements to health care. “The longer it takes, the more you start suspecting the proper answer isn’t coming but we’ll remain optimistic and hope for a spring decision here.”
Two dead in Tuesday morning house fire
Two people are dead after a house fire on Tuesday. According to information from the Estevan Police Service, a call was received around 2 a.m. that a residence in the Pleasantdale area was on fire. Upon arriving at the scene, both the EPS and Estevan Fire Rescue Service found the home, located on Hillcrest Drive, completely engulfed in flames. Firefighters were able to extinguish the blaze and later discovered the bodies of two adults, one male and one female. As of press time, the EPS and EFRS were working to discover the names of the deceased. The cause of the blaze was also under investigation and investigators from the Office of the Fire Commissioner were on scene as of Two people were killed in an early morning house fire Tuesday on Hillcrest Drive. The cause of the blaze and the names of Tuesday afternoon. For more details please see next week’s issue of the Mercury. the deceased are unknown at this time.
Strachan enters CPC race Teaching certificate stripped The candidates are starting to line up for the Conservative Party nomination in the Souris-Moose Mountain constituency. A third man — Torquay Mayor Mike Strachan — has announced he plans to seek the nomination and run in the 2015 federal election. Strachan joins Estevan resident Dr. Robert Kitchen and Phil Zajac as the candidates to publicly announce
Mike Strachan their intentions. In a press release, Strachan noted that he decided
from Midale school educator
to throw his name in the hat after much contemplation about communities and families. “As a husband and father of three young children, Mike understands the issues facing many young families today as well as issues facing the communities in our region,” Strachan said in his press release. Aside from his duties in Torquay, Strachan is a director for the → A2 Taxes
A panel comprised of executive members of the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation has decided that a former teacher at Midale Central School will have her teaching certificate cancelled. The ruling came on Feb. 6 at a penalty hearing in Regina. That hearing followed a Saskatoonbased disciplinary inquiry
in which a panel of Justine Kwochka’s educational peers plus one government appointed memberat-large, recommended that the teacher’s provincial certification be revoked. Kwochka has 30 days from the date of her learning the panel’s decision in which to appeal. If there is no appeal, then the former elementary grade educa-
tor will be stripped of her teaching certification in Saskatchewan. The decision taken by the STF executive comes on the heels of information revealed during the disciplinary hearing for Kwochka in Saskatoon in mid-December of last year. During that session, testimony indicated that Kwochka had → A2 Kwochka
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