A Saskatoon couple with no specialist available for their two-year-old daughter fought to see a specialist in Toronto, then fought again to get her off a six-year wait list down to just one year.Kaitlyn and Jordi Soron's daughter has been in pain for most of her life and is on medication. Although the couple lives near the children's hospital in Saskatoon, the pediatrician could not refer their child to a pediatric gastroenterologist."As any parent knows, watching your child suffer is pretty much the worst pain you can experience," Kaitlyn Soron explained."We actually had a really terrible summer with our daughter. It was excruciating for all of us actually."Saskatchewan has no gut doctor for kids, forcing Soron to press for options."I had to fight quite hard for her to be seen by the pediatric GI locum," Soron said."After being told that she would have to be an intestinal failure to be seen, I just I think that lights a fire in you that you didn't know that you had. And I wasn't going to stop. So I wrote letters to the patient advocate and the minister."Alberta refused to take the child, given their own patient waitlists. Officials in Montreal said Toronto would be a better option because of the language barrier."She was also referred for an MRI, and because she's only two-and-a-half, she was told that she needs general anesthesia. And when I inquired about that, she was put on the semi-urgent waitlist, which was up to six years, they told me. I obviously wasn't okay with that. So I proceeded to advocate further and now she's on the urgent waitlist, which will be a year."Although the province of Saskatchewan will cover the cost of the procedures, the family will bear a financial cost for accommodations, travel and lost time from work.Standing by the couple in the rotunda of the legislature, NDP Opposition Health Critic Jared Clarke (Regina Walsh Acres) told reporters a family should not have to fight so hard for reasonable care."This government dragging its feet on fixing the crisis in health care, waits until a family has to come to the legislature, and they have to go through hell with their daughter, and then we see some some movement," Clarke said."Look at the numbers of the doctors we lost last year alone and that loss of 35 doctors out of our province. This is a systemic problem."According to the Canadian Institute of Health Information, Saskatchewan is one of only three provinces, and the largest by population, without a pediatric GI. Quebec has 15 active pediatric GIs, Ontario has 16, BC has 7, Manitoba has 2, and Nova Scotia has 1. Parents and the Official Opposition have sounded the alarm on the exodus of medical specialists for over a year after Saskatchewan lost its only pediatric gastroenterologist. Health Minister Everett Hindley (Swift Current) told reporters that the Saskatchewan Health Authority was finalizing contracts for two new pediatric gastroenterologists. He said the province was not alone in its health care challenges."Anesthesia is another example of where not just Saskatchewan, but other provinces and territories are having difficulty of finding and hiring and recruiting specialists," Hindley said."It's supply and demand. As part of it, we have a growing demand growing population in our province, growing demand on the healthcare sector."Hindley said the government was "playing catch-up" to get a "full complement" of specialists at the Jimmy Pattison's Children's Hospital in Saskatoon. The hospital was built and opened in 2019 as an initiative of the Sask Party government."We're doing everything we can to not only recruit or retain the specialists, the doctors, the nurses, you name it," Hindley said.A nephrologist is the only other specialist completely absent from the children's hospital. However, 15 specialists must be added to reach the full complement of staff desired.Soron expressed relief that there would be a child specialist for her daughter in Saskatoon. She told other parents to lobby hard for the care their children need."Don't stop advocating, don't give up on your child, write letters, be the squeaky wheel. And hopefully things will get better," she said.
A Saskatoon couple with no specialist available for their two-year-old daughter fought to see a specialist in Toronto, then fought again to get her off a six-year wait list down to just one year.Kaitlyn and Jordi Soron's daughter has been in pain for most of her life and is on medication. Although the couple lives near the children's hospital in Saskatoon, the pediatrician could not refer their child to a pediatric gastroenterologist."As any parent knows, watching your child suffer is pretty much the worst pain you can experience," Kaitlyn Soron explained."We actually had a really terrible summer with our daughter. It was excruciating for all of us actually."Saskatchewan has no gut doctor for kids, forcing Soron to press for options."I had to fight quite hard for her to be seen by the pediatric GI locum," Soron said."After being told that she would have to be an intestinal failure to be seen, I just I think that lights a fire in you that you didn't know that you had. And I wasn't going to stop. So I wrote letters to the patient advocate and the minister."Alberta refused to take the child, given their own patient waitlists. Officials in Montreal said Toronto would be a better option because of the language barrier."She was also referred for an MRI, and because she's only two-and-a-half, she was told that she needs general anesthesia. And when I inquired about that, she was put on the semi-urgent waitlist, which was up to six years, they told me. I obviously wasn't okay with that. So I proceeded to advocate further and now she's on the urgent waitlist, which will be a year."Although the province of Saskatchewan will cover the cost of the procedures, the family will bear a financial cost for accommodations, travel and lost time from work.Standing by the couple in the rotunda of the legislature, NDP Opposition Health Critic Jared Clarke (Regina Walsh Acres) told reporters a family should not have to fight so hard for reasonable care."This government dragging its feet on fixing the crisis in health care, waits until a family has to come to the legislature, and they have to go through hell with their daughter, and then we see some some movement," Clarke said."Look at the numbers of the doctors we lost last year alone and that loss of 35 doctors out of our province. This is a systemic problem."According to the Canadian Institute of Health Information, Saskatchewan is one of only three provinces, and the largest by population, without a pediatric GI. Quebec has 15 active pediatric GIs, Ontario has 16, BC has 7, Manitoba has 2, and Nova Scotia has 1. Parents and the Official Opposition have sounded the alarm on the exodus of medical specialists for over a year after Saskatchewan lost its only pediatric gastroenterologist. Health Minister Everett Hindley (Swift Current) told reporters that the Saskatchewan Health Authority was finalizing contracts for two new pediatric gastroenterologists. He said the province was not alone in its health care challenges."Anesthesia is another example of where not just Saskatchewan, but other provinces and territories are having difficulty of finding and hiring and recruiting specialists," Hindley said."It's supply and demand. As part of it, we have a growing demand growing population in our province, growing demand on the healthcare sector."Hindley said the government was "playing catch-up" to get a "full complement" of specialists at the Jimmy Pattison's Children's Hospital in Saskatoon. The hospital was built and opened in 2019 as an initiative of the Sask Party government."We're doing everything we can to not only recruit or retain the specialists, the doctors, the nurses, you name it," Hindley said.A nephrologist is the only other specialist completely absent from the children's hospital. However, 15 specialists must be added to reach the full complement of staff desired.Soron expressed relief that there would be a child specialist for her daughter in Saskatoon. She told other parents to lobby hard for the care their children need."Don't stop advocating, don't give up on your child, write letters, be the squeaky wheel. And hopefully things will get better," she said.
