Leeway from Lloyd: Does anyone feel our health pain?

Hats off to the Lloydminster and District Health Advisory Council for their role in lobbying the Saskatchewan Health Authority and Alberta Health Services to fund and improve needed healthcare services for our region.

A four-person team headed by advisory council chair, Paul Richer, Lloydminster Mayor Gerald Aalbers, Lloydminster Region Health Foundation CEO, Stephanie Munro, and former Lloyd Ex manager, Mike Sidoryk, took a list of issues with them to Regina on Wednesday.

They met for 30 minutes with Everett Hindley, Saskatchewan’s Minister of Mental Health and Addictions, Seniors, and Rural and Remote Health, leaving him with a detailed list of 12 outstanding health services gaps in our community.

We’ll be learning more about what was said and the potential outcome for some of the leading issues in the coming days.

In Richer’s summary of the top-four issues to the minister, he notes he only learned this past December that Prairie North Plaza is no longer an acceptable location for the renal dialysis unit following a facility inspection.

As a consequence, the summary notes “this has caused a serious community distrust in the activities and fundraising work of the Lloydminster Region Health Foundation and is resulting in a very perilous position when asking donors for new funds.”

The latest news about dialysis comes after the Alberta government announced in 2020 that a $4.2 million dialysis enhancement would be up and running at the plaza by the end of 2023.

The bone of contention for the advisory council is that outstanding health service needs including mental health stability beds, updating the 2013 Lloydminster

Integrated Health Services and Facility Infrastructure Needs Assessments and bi-provincial medical file sharing, continue to be unresolved despite both provinces sitting on the Bi-Provincial Health Committee.

The gist of Richer’s executive summary handed to Hindley is that a lot of things have been promised for Lloyd over the years including a detailed Lloydminster Hospital master plan from 2007 and that 2013 needs assessment, but little has been delivered. What Richer is doing as a volunteer is holding the feet of health officials to the fire. Let’s hope somebody starts to feel our pain.

Calling all community correspondents

as well as community correspondents!

Well, we’re a month into an exciting new year and we at the Meridian Source are excited to announce the return of our streeters (see below)

We’re looking for members of our surrounding rural communities who are interested in regularly writing about the happenings of their community and having their work occasionally printed in the paper.

Word on the street ...

Guess what, everyone, we’re bringing streeters back!

The idea is simple, and quite a bit of fun. We go out into the community and ask the same

We’re looking for pieces under 300 words about what’s going on in your town or community ... and the best part is, you get to help tell your communities’ story.

Do you live in Vermilion, Lashburn, Neilburg, Hillmond, Turtleford, Paradise Hill or some - question to five random people. Streeters will be a regular thing in the Source , so if you’re approached with a questions by our editor, Taylor, play along!

Taylor was at the Servus

This week’s question ...

where in between and have a passion for storytelling? We want to hear from you!

Email me at taylor@ meridiansource.ca and tell me what you would like to write about. We’re also not restricting this to a certain age, all writers welcome! Talk soon!

Sports Centre this week to start things off and was pleasently surprised at how willing and excited people were to talk; let’s keep the conversation going!

If you could see any band, act, or entertainer at the Vic Juba Community Theatre, who would it be?