This is recent history from the Detailed Commentary Page. Site Index Sask Health Gaffe's Home Index  Commentary by Greaner Politickle Page (frames)          Since the Healthcare issues are likely to be spaced further apart in the near future, the new politickle page project may "tickle" your fancy? Check out the new Politickle Page (frames)   Please find the history archive just below here. 1999 - June - July - August - Sept - Oct - Nov - Dec               December 30 1999 Its official; The Regina Health District is to have several units re-open, at least partially. Interestingly one of those units is 3F at the RGH. That would be one of the units where recovering heart patients usually receive their specialized care. How is it that some ordinary guy on the internet can understand the futility of this business and yet the so called "high paid experts" consistently fail to anticipate the simplest of problems? December 24 1999 It's official; The Regina Health District is to have several complete units closed at the RGH and the Pasqua. Patients who would normally be recovering from. .. say "heart surgery" will not be going to a unit specifically geared to attend to their specific needs. These patients will be "scattered" throughout the other units as beds are available. No kidding! It has been determined that this is an important step to take in the event of a Y2K problem. Apparently it will be a lot more convenient to have seriously ill patients and specially trained staff "scattered" all over the building than on a designated unit if disaster strikes. Apparently other important measures have been put in place as well; bottled water will be available for patients near the end of the year. Nursing staff are instructed to bring water for themselves from home as the patients water "is not for nurses"! No kidding! In the event that the power fails patients are being supplied with metal spoons so they can tap on the bed rails to call for the nurse in case of emergency. No kidding! What a piece of work we have in the Regina Health District. Don't get sick people. .     December 14 1999 Let me be perfectly clear about the Provincial Auditors claim that the $50 million dollar cost over-run of the Plains Health Center "Project 98" was in fact an over-run. Let me respond in a perfectly clear fashion to the NDP/Health District claim that the "mental health services" amalgamation at the Regina General Hospital was not to be considered as part of the Project 98 expenses. Consider that the prior mental health services, located at the Pasqua and General, respectively, offered perfectly adequate mental health care. In fact there is strong evidence to suggest that two, smaller psychiatric centers would be able to provide superior mental health services than a larger single facility. Different types of patient needs could be provided in a more specialized environment previous to the combining of the two facilities; all patients of all types, with all different types of needs are all lumped in together at the combined facility. For decades mental health services have been moving away from the "large institution" type of 1950's approach, and moving toward smaller regional psychiatric centers, Certainly Regina was, and is large enough, both geographically and population-wise to enjoy and merit two mental health locations. So how did we come to combine the two separate existing mental health services? We closed the Plains Health Center and we subsequently made a plan which would move many Plains Services into the Pasqua Hospital location, which in turn forced the existing Mental Health Service out. I call that a clear and definite part and parcel of Project 98. I call that a clear and definite "step backward" for Mental Health Services in Regina. I call any statement to the contrary a "bare faced lie"! Without question the Regina Health District Board ought to resign, the Health Minister and all Associates and Deputies ought to resign as well. Let the voters decide who they wish to put back into those particular ridings! I for one am tired of learning of blunder after blunder after blunder and all the while having to listen to the excuses and the blaming and lies! Remember this $50 million does not even mention the millions that have been squandered away on SHIN!  Greaner December 11 1999 As you may recall my last comment was on December 09. It read: (Headline: NDP DUMP'S ON NURSES AGAIN!) I find it predictably curious that just two days later the Regina LP reports an additional one million dollar cost attached to the Plains Health Center renovation project. I find it predictably curious that the NDP continue to blame their obvious stupidity and shortsightedness on other people or outside influences. I find it predictably curious that it is the nurse who will suffer in addition to the taxpayers. Perhaps the immediate need for money could be partially remedied by introducing legislation that would eliminate or delay the payout of those $20,000 dollar, "YOUR FIRED" cash bonus's for departing NDP MLA's! Maybe the Premier and the Health ministers ought to be charged with some fudiciary responsibility themselves for their blunders and errors. I also wonder what additional costs are about to turn up for the closing up or demolition of the SIAST campus buildings that according to reports are in too great a need of upgrading and maintenance to continue being used in their present capacity. I say it's beyond belief, as a string of blunders goes.   December 09 1999 Headline: NDP DUMP'S ON NURSES AGAIN! We will not see this headline in any of the local papers that rely heavily on government advertising. But we should. Even as the Legislature is sitting and the NDP are bragging about their new improved vision and hearing, they demonstrate by example that they have learned nothing. Of course Pat Atkinson remained on as health minister, after the election. Somehow the good voting citizens in her riding have been boonswaggled into thinking that she is doing a good job! Surely no one else with such a record of disgraceful mismanagement could pull this off. What's wrong you ask? The parking problem at the RGH was to be semi-recitified by the removal of the old nurses residence and subsequent creation of additional parking for nurses. This was announced as a dead project for the time being. The parking problem was created by the NDP closing of the Plains Health Center. They failed to remedy the problem with a miserably flawed effort to persuade nurses to continue to park at the Plains site and be bused in to the RGH from the Plains. They failed miserably to remedy the problem by creating a parking lot 3.5 blocks from the RGH and expecting nurses to walk in the dead of night and in winter to and from this wondrous downtown location. They even bought a brand new vehicle of some sort to ferry staff back and forth to this distant parking zone. and yet only a few people have chosen to park there in the daylight hours and virtually none at night. Just maybe they are afraid of getting mugged! Now after having spent a gazillion dollars on this stupidity and countless other ridiculous and useless projects that were seen as politically beneficial in someone's imagination, they are failing, yet again, to provide adequate parking for the RGH nurses. December 03 1999 LPN's, or ALPN sues the SRNA's, or SUN! This will require some explaining, and some pussy-footing around some touchy subjects. Oh what the heck! I will just spit it out and try to offend everyone who might be a bit sensitive and out of touch with reality equally. The Licensed practical nurses have managed to elevate themselves from being "just nurses aides". Good for them say most; but there is a fine line to be drawn between the old way of thinking and managing a Nurses Aide and managing a Licensed Practical Nurse. A similar line can be finely drawn if one actually is an LPN / former NA. Just as RN's have assumed many of the duties which formerly were the exclusive domain of the "physician", so have LPN's assumed many of the formerly exclusive duties of the RN. So where is the problem the unfamiliar or unaware concerned citizen asks? As I so recently mentioned on the first page of the Healthgaffes site, the former Plains Health Center was a forward thinking and progressive healthcare delivery vehicle. As were its multidisciplinary team of staff members. No one thought anything of nurses assuming physicians duties as the physicians passed on their expertise and knowledge to the RN's working in the particular discipline. In turn LPN's became better trained and assumed more of the duties which had been beyond their level of expertise a few short years earlier. Some of these duties were formally and officially designated by management and law and were passed down through a process called "transfer of function". Some were just assumed by the staff for convenience sake and common sense. Other duties became necessity as Doctors are in as short a supply as nurses much of the time. So again, where is the problem? Soon soon.  Fact: Just as the Plains was progressive in this endeavor, so were the RGH and other facilities regressive. RN's, as well as LPN's were kept back in the past, and relegated to bed pans and blood pressures. We are now witnessing a meeting of the minds, or the philosophies, as the case may be. It would be easy to lay blame for the "holding back" or for the reckless assumption of responsibility without the expertise or education to back it up but: we now have to get personal if we get to that so... a list is required before I place the majority of blame on government and management. Fact is: Some Nurse Aides were quite content to sit back and not become LPN's (super NA's) Some RN's were quite content to pass medication and do the minimum to maintain and upgrade their skills as caregivers and professionals. Some managers were fearful of any staff who gave the appearance of ambition and of being more knowledgeable and capable than they may have been themselves. Some physicians remained, mired in the bygone days of having nurses for handmaidens rather than part of the multidisciplinary team of caregivers. Some people just fail to grasp the changes that inevitably occur around them. and so we have a lawsuit directed at the wrong group of people for the wrong reason. There is plenty of work to go around and the fact is that the LPN's remain at the lower end of the workload. They do the dirty work, between the jobs for which they have become more highly trained. Which is the very reason some have resisted change. Their improved education has not improved their work, it has only made them able to take on more duties. The RN's may not have assumed more dirty work but any transfer of function duty has brought great responsibility for the care of patients who would, without question have been in CCU or ICU previously, but who are now found in large numbers on ordinary units for their critical care recovery or treatment. Perhaps it is time to get "orderlies" back onto the units like the old days, so they may assist the LPN's and the RN's and subsequently elevate the LPN's to a position above another level of caregiver. Perhaps the LPN's just need to be reminded that they are the lowest level of caregiver and they have more work to do than they seem to be willing or capable of getting to without a lot of griping about how "that isn't my job". Perhaps the so called management ought to peek down from the ivory office tower and take a look at what the RN's are doing on the floors. The Jerseys and Residents are learning some of their stuff from the RN's, and that's a fact! The patients on the floors are sick, critically sick, and the RN's who are functioning at the highest level can easily be identified by the physicians - in case of any of you managers or politicians are interested in finding out who really knows what is going on where it counts. Should you decide to seek out the elite and progressive nurses, LPN's and RN's alike, you will find that they are struggling to maintain their integrity, ability, professionalism, sanity and quality of care for the patient in spite of the tide of arrogant careless stupidity flowing from top of government down through the bureaucracy and into the everyday lives of the staff and patients alike on the units.   November 26 1999 Well the SUN, black ribbon of death demonstration over the failure of the SAHO to meet it's own deadline for implementing the pay schedule for the latest contract,  turned out to be a pretty low key informational picket line at the Wasacana Hospital over the lunch hour today. It seems to me that the planners of this event excluded every nurse who has children coming home for lunch time from school. It's too bad too. I believe that many nurses would have attended at a more appropriate time. Of particular note to this writer was the reported Barb (two faced) Byers photo opportunity grab. What a disgrace that this, so called labour leader was allowed to deface an otherwise legitimate demonstration with her presence. After her disgraceful performance at election time, when she conveniently forgot that the NDP was dumping all over the nurses/labour and for all intents and purposes endorsed them, she should be told in no uncertain terms by SUN that she is not welcome and not worthy to stand beside the true labour leaders of healthcare and Saskatchewan; the nurses and the SUN executive. November 24 1999 snip >added april 26 2000 Today I ran across your commentary of November 24, 1999 regarding Momentum software, SAHO, and SHIN.  I would appreciate it if you would set the record straight on your website - Momentum Health Information Systems of Winnipeg supplied Minimum Data Set (MDS) software to SaskHealth to enable more detailed assessments of the 10,000 plus residents of Saskatchewan's 168 long term care facilities.  This methodology is in use in 19 countries and has been proven to improve quality of care by multidisciplinary teams.  The 1997 announcement you reference regarding a business relationship between Momentum and SAHO was for an accounting package in use by half of the province's health districts, not the payroll system.  SAHO has invested in the development of a new payroll system using the German based multinational SAP as their prime technology vendor.  There is absolutely no connection between Momentum and the current issues with health district payrolls.  Thought you would want to report the truth.  VTM End snip It seems that Vern McClelland <vmcc@sk.sympatico.ca>  President  McClelland Management Consultants believes my original item found here contains inaccuracies regarding the involvement of MOMENTUM of Winnipeg with the SAHO/SUN/NDP issues I have presented. I therefore have added his comments above. I apologize for any inaccuracy with regard to Momentum and continue to be amazed that SHIN was incapable of providing any and all computer needs in the provinces healthcare system with it's $40 million dollar budget and I continue to be amazed that the government failed to release news of this type on the gov't web page for scrutiny by the public and media. I thank Mr. McClelland for clarifiying that SAHO has in fact gone to a third party for payroll software.  While we are at it the Momentum links below have been removed and will only take you to Momentums main page. end April 26 2000> MISSISSAUGA, Ontario - February 22, 1999 - Microsoft Canada announced today that Winnipeg-based Momentum Health Information Systems, a Certified Microsoft Solutions provider, was selected by Saskatchewan Health to deploy MDS 2.0, a Windows-based clinical assessment solution, to 168 Long Term Care facilities across the Province.  http://www.momentum.ca/micrsoft.htm I found this today as I searched for more great news about the groundbreaking/earthshattering/technofuturistic SHIN. Unbelieveable! That we the public heard nothing about this and still have to pay millions of dollars for SHIN to develope software and a computer system for healthcare in this province! I will be looking around for a bit more info on this in the near future. and I found this: October 3, 1997                Winnipeg, Manitoba    Momentum Software Corporation (MSC) is excited about our recent signing of an agreement with the Saskatchewan Association of Health Organizations (SAHO). This agreement will provide affordable implementation and support services - delivered by a Saskatchewan company - for organizations  ... http://www.momentum.ca/saho.htm This page appears to me to indicate that this is the outfit that has supplied SAHO with the payroll software which does not allow them to have the nurses contract salaries up to date by the appointed time! It is very curious that almost every major happening is announced on the government news release web site, and yet neither of these items can be found in the archives by this devoted researcher!   November 21 1999 The start of this week tomorrow will bring, according to a little birdie, cranky nurses into the media spotlight. It's not just the fact that the government/saho payroll has claimed they can't meet their own deadline, it's that, and the fact, that there has been no improvement in working conditions since the end of the strike. Over time is huge in demand and in dollars being drained out of the system. Unsafe situations are commonplace due to staff shortages, premature discharging, poor or no, post-hospital follow-up resources and the list is endless. What can nurses do about it? So far nothing, as far as the workplace goes, but it may be time to take the real information outside the workplace. After all several Physicians have written letters to the media describing great concerns over the situation in the hospitals. Certainly the public has a right to know the details of what amounts to a hazard to their health, or hazard to their healthcare, as the case may be. In fact nurses have continued to go the extra mile for the patient and the employer for years now. It has taken, and is taking its toll. Many nurses have been on "stress leave" due to the overwhelming demands of the workplace. Do not be fooled into thinking that a consciencious nurse can just pace themselves as a desk worker would manage an extra volume of paper work during the annual budget period. OH NO!  The consciencious nurse misses breaks and meals. They stay late to assist their relief who would otherwise be starting their day way behind. They do this without compensation because the employer is much too rude and unforgiving when overtime is filled in for situations that are not somehow approved ahead of time or for a specific work situation like a "sick call'. Never mind that many of the employer/managers who are responsible for shift scheduling utilize the worst type of system imaginable for the staff on the floor. Many such schedules are a plethora of short changes, irregular weeks for months at a time. It is common for "holes" or blank, unfilled spaces to remain unfilled for weeks only to be filled by overtime staff called at home at the last minute. Oh yes! Nurses are not just sick and tired of the substandard workplace, substandard care they are obliged to offer the patients and substandard care the employer has opted to give to the nurses. They are tired and sick, physically tired and sick from mistreatment, overwork, inappropriate demands on their time at their homes as well as actual abuse through disrespectful employer attitudes. How well do nurses like someone being brought in for a six month term at $16,000.00 dollars a month to "fix the short term problems"? Perhaps the employer will decide to heed the advice of the most knowledgeable people there are when it comes to "hands on healthcare"; the nurses on the floor, the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses, the Nursing Practice Standards Committee, for example. The government has "managed, legislated, regulated, studied, reorganized, down sized, upgraded, expanded, branched out, centralized and decentralized healthcare to death. Speaking of death, patients, staff and even government ought to give a bit more thought to their own mortality and the mortality of the healthcare system and of our whole society. These goings on surely do not speak well of Saskatchewan, Canada or the heavy handed, seemingly incompetent healthcare managers, who only wish they could elevate themselves to the moral and professional level of dedication at which the majority of nurses perform, day after day after day. If you have decided that I am just on a "rant", remember this article was written just to prepare the reader for a week of cranky nurses. Its just too bad the public will have to put up with the watering down and filtering of information by the media and the phony baloney propaganda of the NDP and the SAHO, instead of just hearing the truth from the source. November 17 1999 It should be "mind boggling". It should be a criminal offense. But no! Its SAHO and the NDP government dumping on the nurses again. The TV news reported today that the SAHO will be delaying/postponing/stalling/failing to implement the nurses contract by the agreed upon date this month. They have apparently indicated that they will have it completely ready to implement at some point in the future. What a disgrace this is! All along the NDP and SAHO have done nothing but stall and postpone and delay the nurses and healthcare as a whole. Now after bragging about how much they have "listened" and "learned", etc. they continue with the same old broken down method of doing business. Oh, nurses will get back pay sometime next year, and the books will finally be sorted out if Y2K doesn't wipe everything out and cause yet another major delay. As I said on Aug 04 1999 right here as well as earlier, SAHO and this NDP government has done nothing but stall, delay, and procrastinate with the contract and healthcare issues. On top of delaying most of the contract items for 1 or 2 or 3 years they now can't even bring the payroll up to date after - HOW LONG? Lets pay particular attention to the fact that the government and SAHO are just not able to accomplish the job they are being paid to do in a reasonable amount of time, and perhaps if we look at the big picture. they are not doing the job at all! Many of the active nurses on the floors are dreading going to work these days because the understaffing and the ineffective discharge/admission/bed allocation procedures combined with the staff shortages and physician shortage has made the hospital workplace into a disaster-waiting-to happen situation. Should a major trauma event occur (or even a minor trauma) there will be overwhelming requirements on an already overwhelmed system. Too bad too, that the powers to be have yet to make this simple observation, or have chosen to ignore it! Things suddenly look a lot worse than when the Plains Health Center was the Major Trauma Center, don't they? How much better can it be in Saskatoon where we have a Doctor from the RUH writing to the SP concerning the critical situation at the hospital? Don't get sick and try to not get injured.   November 15 1999 Well. .  Everyone seems to be rushing around to conventions and speculating about the latest backroom dealing with the politicking MLA's of the day. and yet, behind the scenes the story continues, with bizarre and ridiculous decisions being made for no other reason than to buy the votes of the uninformed public. I say uninformed, not because they don't realize that money is being spent but because they fail to see the big picture of it all. I also blame the media for not investigating and reporting obvious and ridiculous trends in voter targeted spending!   For example: In 1999 LA LOCHE BUILDING NEW HOSPITAL  . .. NEW HOSPITAL IN FORT QU'APPELLE CONSTRUCTION BEGINS ON TURTLEFORD HEALTH CENTRE SITE HUMBOLDT TO PLAN HOSPITAL REPLACEMENT MOOSOMIN TO PLAN INTEGRATED HEALTH FACILITY SPIRITWOOD TO PLAN HOSPITAL, CARE HOME LINK MELFORT HOSPITAL PLANS ADDITION CONSTRUCTION BEGINS ON NEW WILKIE AND DISTRICT HEALTH FACILITY CONSTRUCTION BEGINS ON NEW UNITY AND DISTRICT HEALTH CENTRE Do ya think that the healthcare vote is up for sale in these particular constituencies or are the NDP just so flush with healthcare dollars from underpaying nurses that they have chosen capitol expenditures as a way to maintain their current level of spending? I guess in the interest of fairness one must concede the possibiblity that each of these projects has been undertaken to fill a desperate need in these communities at this time. I however would like to know how much of that need. if it exists is desperate and how much of it has been self inflicted by this governments actions over the last 8 years. November 13 1999 Congratulations to Mr. Bartlett for calling the government to task in the LP Friday 12th. Of course the government (Atkinson) responded by saying that she had nothing to say until after the auditor does his thing. Then we may no doubt expect the government will have nothing to say until after some study of the wrong thing! Then they will have nothing to say until after another study based on the study of the wrong thing. Can't we find a way to get them to listen to the simple facts as stated by the nurses and doctors and the former CEO of their own choosing! I am predicting that this Christmas Season will be an extremely chaotic time for patients, nurses and doctors and it will have nothing to do with Y2K. It will have to do with attempts by health administrators to close beds due to extreme shortages of staff that have been smoke-screened from the public over the last while. Don't get sick people! November 05 1999   Whoa! Are the rats leaving the sinking ship? or does it just look that way? Gord Nystuen head of the SHIN corporation - GONE. Glen Bartlett CEO of the Regina Health District - GONE. Garf Stevenson chair of the Regina Health District Board - Gone as chair, but still hanging on as an "appointed" board member.  Too bad ...  Can we really rationalize any of the sorry excuses that are being made up for SHIN's existance. Since they figured out that they have major privacy issues that are never going to go away they have been trying to re-invent themselves as e-mail providers for healthcare facilities. Correct me if I am wrong but e-mail has already been invented, with 128 bit security, as has networking, and video on-line. Whoops. They have made themselves redundant in the short space of 4 or 5 years. Although they claim to be taking over the double doctoring and prescription monitoring duties from the College of Physicians and Surgeons. This of course has WHAT TO  DO with their mandate? Say! I was looking at the dept of health the other day and thought I would ask if anyone else thinks that it looks top heavy beside me? Minister of Health Honourable Pat Atkinson Associate Minister Honourable Judy Junor Deputy Minister Glenda Yeates Assistant to the Deputy Minister Dawn Martin Senior Advisor to the Deputy Minister Patrick Fafard Special Advisor to the Deputy Minister Debbie Wilkie Acting Assistant Deputy Minister Carol Klassen Associate Deputy Minister Steven Pillar Assistant Deputy Minister Marlene Smadu Communications Branch  Wendy Campbell  Executive Director Policy and Planning Branch  Wayne Fritz  Acting Executive Director District Management Services Branch  Lois Borden  Executive Director Acute and Emergency Services Branch  Lauren Donnelly  Acting Executive Director Medical Services and Health Registration Branch  Lawrence Krahn  Executive Director Drug Plan and Extended Benefits Branch  Barb Shea  Executive Director Corporate Information and Technology Branch  Neil Gardner  Executive Director Provincial Laboratory Services  Boris Titus  Executive Director Finance and Management Services Branch  Rod Wiley  Executive Director Population Health Branch  George Peters  Executive Director Population Health Branch  George Peters  Executive Director Human Resources Branch  Kelly Kummerfield  Executive Director Primary Health Services Branch  Karen Layng  Executive Director organizational chart http://www.gov.sk.ca/health/org.htm   Oct 25 1999 What a great graphic I found at the North Central Internet News. (graphic stolen and placed here without permission - click it!)   Mario DeSantis made the observation that Gord Nystuen, head honcho at SHIN is going out the door. I could say more about the shortcomings of SHIN and how it is, and has been, and probably always will be a "money pit", for Sask. taxpayers. . but, I have already said that and more. (see the history of this page for privacy info from last week. Click on the graphic to read Mario's comments. and if you have not visited the North Central News for awhile. . .  look around while you are there. I have had the link to that site here for some time now and feel strongly that every community which does not enjoy something similar at present will move toward this end, and soon. Consider this high praise from me, the most cynical and critical person, I can possibly be. heh heh. Just have a look. .   Oct 22 1999 Wed Oct 20 1999 the Regina LP had a small article titled 'Health network flawed says privacy watchdog'. (See the The Health Infoway: Path to Health Surveillance ? and  Saskatchewan's Health Info Law' right here at the Annual Report of the Privacy Commissioner. I am impressed! As I said right here on Aug 28 1999, the healthcare big brother SHIN will be watching you. It seems that Canada's Privacy Commissioner agrees with me to a certain extent. Judge for yourself. Please. Visit the above mentioned site and read the relevant sections. I was surprised to find out that Health Canada is attempting the very same invasion of our right to personal, private and confidential health information as the NDP! Yikes! and the LP sandwiches this very big and incredibly relevant news onto the bottom of the 5th page between the Hollywood Hockey advert and the Car deals advert. Oh well. Maybe the Healthgaffes site will become a national (on-line) landmark and every web surfer of voting age will visit here and go on to influence their MP and/or MLA and remedy this abomination. It could happen! Scary stuff I think. .. Greaner I was just reading over the SUN SPOTS Sept. issue and noticed that the mood of the information found there remains active, vigilant and determined. I may have been lulled into the, post election doldrums and found myself renewed by the references to upcoming implementation of the contract items. (Since they were basically all postponed for 1, 2 or 3 years by the evil SAHO!) So as it says in the SUNSPOTS, familiarize yourself with your contract and benefits and utilize your Employee Relations people for any questions you may have. I personally recommend that each and everyone of us who remains concerned about healthcare continue the "active lobby" for improvements daily. If someone labels you a complainer just try to include more hard information and maybe a shocking horror story or two with your message. Every little bit does help as was proven in the very close call election ridings. Have fun at work!   Sept 25 1999. The New Nurses from New Zealand have New Jobs here in Sunny Saskatchewan. Isn't that great! A big press frenzy by the media. Did they say 20? Imagine 20 more nurses. Surely all those beds can be re-opened now. These 20 nurses will able to cover 38 hours per week each x 20 = 760 hours per week as a group.. . That would be 63 - 12 hour shifts in a week, out of the 168 hours in a week . .  why that means___what? It means it's better than nothing but,  20 nurses can attend to 760 hours divided by 168 hours, which = 4.5 extra nurses on the floor, per day, per week, per year, if they don't get sick or take holidays, ever. So, an extra 4.5 nurses per week in surgery or on the floor is a good thing and quite likely this recruitment effort has been a decent one. Lets all try to keep it in perspective. As a healthcare provider this government has a long way to go, as you may gather from the math above. Sept 16 1999 Well, it never ends does it? I have it on good authority this hour that on this election day, at least some nurses are not getting their 3 hours off to vote. In fact they may be having difficulty getting an hour and half off to vote. Why you ask? when the NDP has hired so many new nurses and all. Well there is no one to come in to work to relieve potential voters! That would be no nurses!!! Too bad a few more people didn't see that writing on the wall! Nurses won't, and cannot legally leave the workplace unattended. Farmers are expected to shut down the combine when they are harvesting the rewards of their entire years work to go to vote! At harvest time when the combine is moving around the field it is worth $20 or more a minute to the farmer. No kidding! But ROY doesn't give a rats @#$%^ about the farmers or the nurses and that would appear to be a fact. Aug 28 1999. Of course "whole" election comment is required and will be forthcoming. Just now though I have healthcare related stuff only. Murray Mandrake put a great article together about the "bubble" the Premier has campaigned in over the years. Fridays LP. The NDP PLATFORM paper is huge. It covers everything, or does it? The SUN/ SAHO contract has been finalized, or has it? Are there not details to work out regarding the Independant assessment committee? One thing at a time. Remember SHIN? SHIN was, and is a MEGA (healthcare) PROJECT. There has been a link to SHIN on the main page of this site forever! There have been criticisms of SHIN on-line in this province forever. Perhaps longer than that. I urge you to follow all of the links I have placed below and learn about SHIN. Oh and I don't mean that you should discover that it is to be a vehicle for healthcare workers to provide better care province wide and save lives in emergencies. I mean that you should talk to any nurse who knows that an emergency patient will be treated without computer information even if it is available, due to both time and safety standards. Even if a patient had their blood type tattooed on their forehead emergency staff would type and crossmatch blood prior to administering it. I mean read between the lines and learn that the NDP plan to use SHIN as a healthcare access monitoring tool, A healthcare BIG BROTHER will be watching you and keeping tabs on health services in the province. I mean try and find out how much money they have paid the United States computer firm to put SHIN together over the past 4.5 years and how they have finally made SHIN a Crown Corporation and comitted 40 million dollars over the next two years toward it. Finally I mean imagine the level of arrogance it must take to have spent a gazillion dollars, to have 6 sites up and running and to have not even introduced legislation which will allow yours and mine "personal and confidential health-records (medical, dental and mental health) to be placed on the internet! I anticipate a 50% plus, number of people in this province will opt out of trusting any gov't to safeguard their private records on-line. You can just bet that if people start opting out in droves that the NDP will spend a fortune in taxpayers money on propaganda to promote why people should stay in it. ( In fact they already have spent a fortune in propaganda!) This NDP government has deliberately, not given voters a chance to opt out prior to spending the previously mentioned gazillion dollars. Nor has this NDP government devoted as much as one tiny little paragraph, or single line or single word, toward this SHIN - Mega project on the "healthcare section" of their PLATFORM publication. Ladies and Gentlemen, this means without doubt, that the healthcare PLATFORM, which has been clearly stated by the NDP is in fact not their PLATFORM at all. Their PLAN includes SHIN! Their PLAN includes not telling anyone about SHIN! Their PLAN amounts to a lie by omission! The Premier and the whole of the NDP party should be as embarassed by this endeavor as they should be by Roy Romanow's AMERICAN STYLE of dirty rude mudslinging politiking. Find SHIN links below and make an informed decision when voting time comes around. And if you are a Liberal or a Sask. party candidate you better get after this hot item if you want my vote or the vote of thousands just like me!     SHIN SHIN 97/98 Annual Statement What happed to SHIN For a few thousand dollars worth of tech. . the NDP have spent millions A historical perspective of SHIN The MEGA PROJECT and related.  Bill legislates PRIVACY! August 20 1999 Election time! I missed in my prediction. I was sure Roy would wait until the SAHO rendered it's verdict on the SUN contract! Oh well. ..  Taxes, lower taxes, jobs, and education. That's what I heard the Premier boast as the primary election issues for the province of Saskatchewan this time around and into the year 2000. Hmmmm. I think there is another issue, or two. Hint: The Nurses Humour page has an new item! Don't forget to vote! heh heh. Aug 15 1999 It is PREDICTION TIME!!!! Again. As the election draws near and health district officials become more and more desperate to rationalize their existence it is likely that more and more bizarre "solutions" to our provinces healthcare problems will begin to surface. No doubt with the NDP and the opposition parties focussing on the waiting lists for surgery we can expect "solutions" in that area. In all likelyhood someone will promote: More operating room "up time".- This will of course result in a need for more OR nurses, more critical care nurses and more hospital beds, post ccu. So General duty nurses will be removed from regular duty to be trained for OR and CCU work. This will result in less nurses on the floors and and even greater need for beds on the floors. I imagine that no one who is employed above the first line of patient care will see the flawed logic in this approach and that it will begin to happen virtually as I type this out.  The demand for nurses to work overtime will continue to grow and of course, the whole sorry situation will worsen. Ultimately it will be the unsuspecting patients who will suffer for the shortsighted and simple minded band-aid efforts of this NDP gov't. Each area of healthcare will attempt to elevate themselves above their fellows and without a comprehensive plan in place, will only serve to worsen an already desperate situation.   Aug 07 1999 Here it is  - I predict that come Aug 27 or somewhere in there, when ever SAHO has stalled as long as it can before accepting the proposed SAHO/SUN contract, that the powers to be, will re-open all or most of the hospital beds that have been closed. They will brag about having hired a few more nurses (and conveniently forget to mention how many have left) and then the NDP will brag about what a good thing it is to have opened the beds and how the healthcare crisis is under control and they will call an ELECTION!!! Lets try to remember: That many nurses did not get the holidays they would have liked. Many nurses have several weeks or months of time saved up that they have been unable to take off of work, due to staff shortages. The workplace is just as bad as it was before and will be worse than before if the present bed closure level is reduced! We have seen Doctors leaving and will continue to see qualified people from all walks of healthcare drawn away to more lucrative and reasonable parts of the country or continent. August 01 1999 They came and they went. The voting nurses failed to live up to my expectations. What was it I said? - 71% turnout - Nope; only 61% or so. 23% of those voting NAY? - Well; 75% of something voted YES! So, if it was 75% of 61% then only, uhhh 25% of 61% would be uhhh. . . about 15% of the SUN nurses voted NAY and additional 39% failed to vote at all! Hmmm, I detect 54% of nurses here who may be dissatisfied! This would compare to the pitiful turnout for provincial elections which allowed the NDP to obtain a huge majority with less than 50% of the popular vote due to a split vote and apathy. At any rate it looks like a majority of nurses, however slim, have had their say, and barring any more flimflaming from the SAHO, may also have their way. July 27 1999 I spoke with a nurse recently whose first thought concerning Rourkes letter was that SUN and SAHO negotiators had "concocted" the possiblity of the Health Districts voting against the proposed contract in order to gather more of a favourable SUN membership vote by making it seem like a good deal for SUN. It's not surprising to me that nurses trust no one, not even their own Union Leaders. I personally think it is possible. Politics is politics and it wouldn't be the first time that misinformation was used as a tool to garner a favourable vote for one cause or another. But then I am a suspicious and paranoid character by nature. Interestingly enough SUN has filed an "unfair labour practise" suit against SAHO in this particular matter. This fact would seem to suggest that no "plot" exists to sway SUN voters. Predictions? I expect a 71% SUN voter turnout, with 23% of those voting "NAY"! We will see. July 19 1999 OK. Lets take a look at the Saskatoon nurses complaints and numbers. I will be referring to the fax they have sent to all SUN locals. At first glance it may look like their figures are wrong, but. . I think they are using figures from year one and have turned up something interesting. Item #1 compares Nurse 3 raise to previous and gets 18 % increase for year one. Item #2 compares Nurse 2 raise to previous and gets 10% increase for year one. Item #3 compares Nurse 1 raise to previous and gets 4.5% increase for year one. I make that to be $1.00 hour more, but as I have said to the best of my knowledge a Nurse 1 at the top of the scale is currently only getting 22.79 or 50 cents an hour more. I can't figure it out? (Maybe only the original 2% is currently in effect). So Nurse 1's will realize somewhere between 11% and 13.5% after three years and their peers jump that much and more instantly! Relatively speaking the Nurse 2's and 3's have been elevated to the same level as the Health District CEO's and their 17% raises and these Nurse 1's don't like it! They don't like it one little bit and they have begun their lobby in their democratic world to make things right. They hope to form a majority vote and have sent a clear message to their peers. If no other good comes of a "no vote" at this time it would almost certainly serve to keep the issues in the media spotlight until election time draws a little closer. So there you have it. July 3 1999 Let's take a trip back in time to my original "contract" comments. These 12 points are still at the SUN Contract page here at "The Healthgaffes". They  remain as relevant as they were, perhaps even more so, in review. (Old comments this color - Current comments this color.) Below. Pay equity with their Federal counterparts.  This could be a bit of a reach even for a willing employer. The spread is nearly $9000.00 dollars and there are 9000 nurses. Not all of them would get the full amount but a majority would as the nurses population is old enough to be mostly senior staff.  Pay equity according to the Dorsey Report did not happen in spite of the best efforts of the SUN negotiating team!    Just a healthy raise would probably do the trick. It could come in several forms. Did a healthy  raise happen? So far nurses are receiving less than 50 cents and hour more, with the big $2.58 raise set to kick in in two years from now! I don't really think so!   Un-sociable shifts are a fact of nursing that goes unrewarded, unlike danger pay or isolation pay. Nurses might as well be in the far north or on the moon when they are working three 12 hours shifts on a week-end, or any time. They get peanuts for a shift differential and it should be increased by a significant amount. No significant improvement here either! It's the same thing if they are working seven, 8 hour shifts in row, or fourteen shifts out of 16 days! Shift work benefits are desperately lagging behind in this field!   Over time is often double time, which would probably be adequate if the regular salary was adequate. No luck here  either at least for the next two years.   A nurse who is mandated in to work is currently paid at a normal overtime rate. This is ridiculous! A mandated shift should be at least triple time, if for no other reason than to discourage the employer from failing to provide staffing in the first place.  This did not happen either!   They want to have a day off where they can count on the phone not ringing at 5:30 in the morning for them to come in to work. It really is awful to have to install name and number display just so you can avoid picking up a call which might result in being mandated in to work. Possibly some improvement here with bed closures and more attention to abuse of the system by management, but most nurses still intend to pay for "name and number display" so they won't be answering a call for overtime.   Nurses would like to be treated to a benefit package, half as good as some of the "crowns". There are those who can attend to a sick spouse for weeks and receive partial salary.  If a nurses spouse dies, they get three days off and its back to work! If the spouse or kids are sick its too bad for them!  SAHO  attempted to "take away" a previously agreed to benefit which allowed nurses to have up to 20 days without pay if they could arrange their own replacement.   A health care plan might be nice too. Nurses have partial coverage of basic dental care and no drug plan or optical coverage. In fact nurses may have the leanest health care coverage in the entire public secter!  More than a bit ironic. Actually pretty good progress here, but again benefits are delayed for at least one year. I suspect that even the NDP were embarrassed by this item!   Nurses would not only like to be paid to keep abreast of education in their field but would like an opportunity to do just that.  As are teachers, who bring in speakers and organize seminars on their "paid education days". Minor progress here, but potential for improvement as the problem has been highlighted by increasingly higher skill requirements in the field of nursing.   For $243.00 a year, per nurse (that would be between $500-$750 per stall) for parking, nurses would like to be able to plug in a car warmer for a few weeks in the winter, so that when they finish the 12 1/2 hour shift they don't have to sit on a rock hard frozen car seat for 15 minutes while their car warms up enough to drive home. The so called parking area on Broad Street seems to be a step backwards in this issue as I stated previously, "nurses would rather jump from a speeding train than walk the three blocks to the RGH from there"!   When 100% of nurses in an area bring an item to the attention of their employer;  such as how ridiculous it is for nurses to be paid to take time out from patient care to empty garbages, hand out food trays or clean toilets, when cleaning, kitchen or maintenance staff are available for those duties they would like to not have to fight tooth and nail to make their point. A bit of progress here as nurses are no longer making trips to the morgue with patients who have expired,  but the question remains, "is the system better?".   Cost of living clause: With a 1% trigger. The cost of everything on the planet is going up daily so nurses need a cost of living clause just to keep pace with the obvious financial demands of our society (not to mention the governments own, all-too-regular-increases for everything from vehicle registration, telephone service, gas and power to taxes).  I don't think so TIM! No mention of "cost of living" since the SAH0 has tried to delay every single improvement and benefit, this really would not fit the plan. SO out of 12 points how did nurses do? I think they got pretty well snookered. They need a bigger stick! They will be leaving, and are leaving the province for very generous American dollars. Some will go for short time periods and some permanently to the U.S. or to neighbouring provinces. Rosalee Longmoore said that the level of retention will determine the quality of the contract and that is a fact none of us will be able to dispute in the near and not so distant future no matter how the ratification vote goes. How will the ordinary person be able to tell? More beds will close, and more doctors will leave too! That's how! Finally, what should you plan on doing when and if the NDP candidate comes a calling at your door in spite of the fact that you have placed your SUN sign on your lawn? Find out right here. . June 26 1999. Watch out for the NURSES now! Their employer SAHO and the NDP gov't spent the week trying to slam the SUN in court. I predict that even the most dedicated and conciencious of nursing staff will no longer go the extra mile for the employer and seldom for the patient either. Unsafe work situation reports have been regarded as more of a nuisance than anything else because the employer has never done anything about them anyway. Starting now nurses will be filling them out on an all too regular basis. Feeling a bit crappy today. Sick call! Many nurses have in excess of 100 days of sick time and yet are prevented from accessing more than the 100, even in the event of a prolonged illness or injury. hmmmm. Your a nurse, your immediate superviser is a nice person and asks you to work overtime, change a shift outside the contract, stay late, prepare a report or shift schedule or some other thing. Normally it wouldn't be a problem, and in return any staff could expect a cooperative response for holidays, or unpaid days off or such, but, as the representitive of the "employer", the answer will and should be, NO! The hard line drawn by the SAHO heads and obviously sanctioned by the NDP gov't as a whole is a disgrace to civilized man. Nurses have proven that they know the issues and are capable of coping with politicians and media. Now is the time for nurses to attend to the problems in the workplace, in the workplace. The tools for ensuring safe care are limited but will certainly be adequate to enlighten this employer, who seems to think that this, primarily female workforce, will continue on forever with a Florence Nightingale attitude.  June 18 1999 It seems like something is happening but really nothing has! The "surgeons" made some noise. The SAHO made some noise. The NDP gov't has made some by-election noise. The media has my respect and admiration for putting the latest nurses item front and center. Well done LP and SP! Congrats to Rosalee Longmore and associates for recognizing and calling the SAHO on their phoney overture at negotiating. Had the SAHO really had anything to say they would have said it instead of whining about "pre-conditions" to bargaining. After all, the so called "pre-conditions" were laid out in the MOU and signed by them as well. I still think SUN should allow the courts to deal with the injunction and fines just so Saskatchewan voters can see what kind of attitude is demonstrated by the SAHO with regard to a decision being handed down. So really nothing is happening, except some of us are doing our best to keep the issues alive in the minds of voters, and to keep the facts clearly out where all can see them. I am still predicting a significant occurance in healthcare to swing in the nurses favour.     June 13 1999 What does it all mean? The Regina Health District surgeons, (or most of them) have said they cannot perform thoracic surgeries here in Regina any more because the health care system cannot provide support care following the surgeries. Either it means they were too chicken too speak up when the nurses were saying that very thing, or they were just as blind to the facts as the NDP gov't has been all along, or they have their own agenda which calls for the timing of this news now. What does it mean when the Health Minister stands up in front of the media and claims to be doing everything possible to attract more nurses to our province when in fact the gov't is still trying to chisel every nickel and dime away from the nurses by failing to settle a contract agreement with the SUN union? It means that the Minister and the NDP gov't think they can get away with being "two faced" on the healthcare issue, I guess.   June 05 1999 It just never seems to end. Premier Romanow has appointed a new Deputy Health Minister. (Is there something wrong with the present Health Minister or Associate Health Minister?) Apparently not because they are both still holding their positions! I guess the Premier just figured we needed another "cook in the kitchen"! And the Leader Post Reported that the Health District people removed two beds from the Yorkton Hospital because the Doctors there were indiscriminately putting sick patients into them. And the Leader Post reported that the Regina Health District has gone 35 million dollars into debt in order to provide services for the district subsequent to the closure of the Plains Health Center. Health Minister Pat Atkinson claimed that the government was not properly informed but all the evidence suggests otherwise. The new parking area on Broad Street in Regina is not being utilized by nursing staff. The so called experts who planned the preparation of the site and spent a small fortune on it have said they can't figure out why this is! Ok, ok. It's because nurses would rather jump from a speeding train than walk the three and a half blocks in that area of town , day or night!!! That would be the same reason the administrative staff aren't parking over there , would it not? Hey! Rumour has it that the new Deputy Minister of Health will be examining the "cost savings" which might be realized from closing the Pasqua Hospital and amalgamating "all heath services in Regina" at the General. It's also rumoured that the old SIAST campus on North Winnipeg Street will be turned into a Family Medicine facility and a wellness center. Finally, what should you plan on doing when and if the NDP candidate comes a calling at your door in spite of the fact that you have placed your SUN sign on your lawn? Find out right here. .

1. Hint for browsing:
Right click on one of the links you want visit.
Then minimize the window and repeat until all the links you want to visit are open.
Then go back to the first one and browse.
2. The Site Index links with the largest numbers are updated least often and are largely history now.
3. These pages are in no way official or guaranteed to be accurate.
4. Every effort has been made to identify fact, rumour and speculation for what it is.
Enjoy.

 

These Pages Created and Maintained using Arachnophilia.   and
Netscape Composer.