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No worries. When a new bi-provincial community health services plan is released in the coming months, the system placement of seniors into long-term care spaces within the Lloydminster region won’t change.
That will continue to be the role of the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) since the original Lloydminster Integrated Health Service and Facilities Infrastructure plan in 2013.
That news comes as a relief to the Lloydminster Concerned Citizens for Seniors Care Society, which sought clarification from operations reps from SHA and Alberta Health Services (AHS) at its Nov. 7 weekly meeting.
Graham Brown, president of the Seniors Care Society, expressed concern with so many bi-provincial changes taking place in the healthcare system over the past 10 years.
He noted when Sherie Allen, vice president, central zone north, AHS, spearheaded the 2013 plan, she commented Lloyd is one community and has to be treated as such for our healthcare system.
“Since that study, Alberta and Saskatchewan have split the city in two,” said Brown.
In 2021, AHS officially assumed operation of the Dr. Cooke Extended Care Centre and the Lloydminster Continuing Care Centre from SHA.
Both facilities were already owned by AHS and had been following the Alberta Continuing Care Health Service Standards and the authority of Alberta Health.
“I am thinking as we go with this new community plan, we need to separate those numbers because we’re now going to be talking with Alberta about the Alberta side only, and we’re going to talking to Saskatchewan about Saskatchewan’s side only as I see this going forward,” said Brown.
“Am I wrong or is this how it’s going to develop?”
Jody Barrett, director, continuing care partnerships and community administration support services, AHS, told the meeting the placement of referrals will continue to go through SHA.
“That’s their responsibility,” said Barrett.
“That doesn’t mean people aren’t placed in any of the facilities in the city of Lloydminster.
“We have one placement for Lloyd,” confirmed Debora Winge, integrated northern health system flow NE SHA.
“We do manage long-term care assessment treating placement in the Lloyd area regardless of them being Alberta or Saskatchewan-born residents. That doesn’t change the process.
“We do send files that are appropriate for available beds in all three facilities in Lloyd.”
SHA and AHS have confirmed there is a need for 148 spaces within an 87-kilometre radius of Lloydminster, but only five net new spaces have been added since 2013.
“We’re already from 2013 to now, we’re 10 years behind because we did nothing from 2013 to now,” said Dr. Raf Sayeed at the meeting.
Sayeed is frustrated that any planning for new spaces such as the replacement of the 50-bed Jubilee Home will be further set back with a new community plan expected to take many more months to complete.
“We need to encourage them to start working on it now,” said Sayeed.
