Sask. Health Authority addresses ongoing COVID-19 situation

Members from the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) held a press conference on Saturday to address the growing COVID-19 concerns in the province.

On Friday, coronavirus testing sites opened in Regina and Saskatoon with another set to open on Monday in Prince Albert. The location of the testing sites are not being disclosed at this time but are accessible if a person meets testing criteria or is referred by a doctor.

“For people who have symptoms and a travel history testing is available. So there is different routes to testing,” said Dr. Julie Kryzanowski, SHA’s Chief Medical Health Officer.

“One route is through HealthLine (811) or people can call their family physicians and have a family physician provide a referral to a testing centre by phone. Or if they visit the family physician or if need be, a hospital, they can be referred to the testing centre as well.”

The HealthLine has experienced problems with capacity in recent days, including people being dropped from calls after waiting on hold for hours. These problems are all being addressed, according to SHA’s Director of Community Engagement and Communications, Kim McKechney.

“We are actively addressing the situation. As you know, this has been an unprecedented challenge,” he said.

“We are making significant in-roads in ramping up to address capacity. By Friday morning we had already more than doubled staff and we had already doubled the IT capacity of the phone line. We’ve tripled that by this morning and we actually should, by the end of this weekend, be able to hold unlimited calls.”

The health authority’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Susan Shaw, said the province moving to one single health authority as well past experience planning for H1N1 outbreak has set them up well for the outbreak of this new virus.

“I know that having a single health authority has made it much easier to coordinate planning. We don’t have to have 12 representatives from 12 regions, we are able to do that as a single health authority so it has improved the planning and logistics,” said Shaw.

“There has been lots of comparisons to between COVID-19 and H1N1. They are two very different viruses and two very different situations. H1N1 still does teach us a lot about how to be prepared what to anticipate what comes next and what to keep our eyes on.”

The SHA is also increasing their medical supply orders in preparation of the COVID-19’s spread. Under normal circumstances the SHA will order 230,000 medical masks – a one month supply. But, to adequately prepare for the ongoing pandemic they have ordered 1.4 million medical masks, a six-month supply under normal circumstances.

However, due to the global demand of these masks they are not sure when they will be receiving shipment.

On Friday, the president of the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses, Tracy Zambory joined CKOM’s Divid Kirton on Sask Afternoon to speak on behalf of safety of the province’s nurses. She asked for N95 respirator masks to be provided for any nurse who will be administering a coronavirus test.

At Saturday’s press conference Dr. Shaw responded to Zambory’s concerns, saying they will not be increasing the use of the N95 masks as they are staying in line with the World Health Organization’s recommendations.

“Safety is top of mind for all of our staff including our nurses and that’s why we have solid personal protective equipment guidelines. Using the right equipment for the right procedure and the right patient is incredibly important,” said Shaw.

“The N95 masks are a very specific mask. You need to be specially fitted for and and trained for how to use them. And we also know they only need to be used in very specific situations which are situations where a patient might need a breathing tube inserted for them to be on a ventilator.”

Above all, Kryzanowski says now more than ever, we need to make sure we are taking care of our mental and spiritual well-being as well as our physical.

“Eat well, stay active, take time to rest, maintain a daily routine and manage stress in healthy ways. While social distancing can prevent transmission we also need to maintain social connections and support and care for people that are vulnerable,” she said.

“We would advise people to continue with your daily routine, but do pay attention to personal hygiene. If you are sick stay home, cover coughs and sneezes, avoid going to work and out in public.”