ESTEVAN - St. Joseph's Hospital is moving closer to bringing obstetric services back to Estevan.
The hospital provided an update on the unit during a meeting Feb. 4 for people who participated in the hospital's community engagement survey last year. Approximately 40 of the hundreds of people who participated in the survey were in attendance.
In an interview with SaskToday.ca, St. Joseph's Hospital executive director Candace Kopec said bringing services, including resuming obstetrics, has been a priority since she moved into the executive director's role nearly two years ago.
"After working for almost a year, since March of last year, working with the leadership team at the SHA [Saskatchewan Health Authority] as well as the ministry [of Health] we were approved for six physician positions – three anesthetist positions and three general practitioners with enhanced surgical skills," she said.
The current barrier to reopening the obstetrics unit is physicians, she said.
"While I don't have oversight for physicians – that is the responsibility of SHA – I think everybody has a responsibility in doing what we can to recruit, and that's where we are now," said Kopec, who will have a role in recruitment efforts.
The hospital has spoken with a couple of physicians who might be interested in coming to Estevan, and a couple of hospital representatives will attend a medicine career fair in Winnipeg at the end of April. The hospital will not have to have all six physicians in place for the unit to reopen.
"If there's one thing that I've learned about St. Joe's … is we're incredibly innovative in working out how to get something and make it work," said Kopec.
On Jan. 6, the hospital moved staff back to the obstetrics unit to rebuild that complement of employees. They had been working in other areas of St. Joe's. The unit is currently being used for post-surgical purposes.
"Bringing them back to the department helps us see where we are for staffing, and we are pretty close," said Kopec.
She believes it was important for everyone on the unit to return to obstetrics and start working as a team so that when the physicians arrive, services can resume.
The necessary equipment is also still in the unit. The hospital still needs to look at training, and employees will be sent to other communities as the reopening date approaches.
"If they don't use those skills right away, they'll lose those skills," she said.
A date has not been set for reopening the obstetrics unit, because it will depend on recruiting the physicians.
A future story on SaskToday.ca will have further coverage of the community engagement meeting.
