A Look Inside- The Saskatoon Health Region
By Gloria Sun
Have you ever gone to a local
Saskatoon clinic because of the snuffles?
Have you ever been to the Royal University
Hospital because of pneumonia? Have you
ever wondered who’s behind all that?
That’s right- the Health Region!
What makes this health region
special? How do they help you? Well, for
starters, this particular health region is the
largest in the province, and in 2008, they
served roughly 300,000 nearby residents.
With so many patients to serve, it’s no
wonder this province wide referral centre is
the largest employer in Saskatchewan, with
877 doctors, and 13 200 registered nurses.
The health region is a mixed health delivery
program, providing specialized care,
hospitals, public clinics, mental health and
addiction facilities and services, and home
care services.
The Health Region takes care of
many facilities. 3 tertiary hospitals are
located in Saskatoon- St. Paul’s, Saskatoon
City Hospital, and Royal University
Hospital, 29 long term care facilities, and
public health facilities such as clinics. An
Academic Health Sciences building is
located on the University of Saskatchewan
campus, and this is also where the Royal
University Hospital (RUH) resides. This
provides a great opportunity for medical
students, because they get to see the action
in one of Saskatchewan’s first class
hospitals.
The Children’s Hospital of
Saskatchewan is a future hospital that plans
to be in the RUH in Saskatoon, although
more approval from the University of
Saskatchewan is needed. The hospital will
feature maternal facilities including
antepartum inpatient, labour and fetal
assessment, intrapartum inpatient – which
is labour and delivery, post-partum
inpatient, and maternal outpatient. The
hospital will also include pediatric facilities
such as a neonatal ICU, a pediatric ICU,
pediatric inpatient, pediatric outpatient, and
a pediatric surgical suite. The hospital will
also include an adult and child emergency
room. The hospital plans to have 164 beds.
Parking is a very big priority for this
new hospital. A parking assessment is
presently on- going.
Schematic designs (arrangement of
rooms, size, etc.) are expected to be
completed in March 2011. Design
development (each room’s contents) will be
done during April- October 2011.
Of course, with such a grand
mission- keeping people healthy, money is a
key thing here. The operating budget for
2010- 2011 is $912.4 million, which estimates
to be about 2.5 million a day. So, where
might $912.4 million dollars go? Well, 63.8%
of the operating budget will be used on
hospital services; 18.8% will be used on long
term and supportive care, 10.1% on public
health and home care, and 5.4% will go
towards program support and
administration. 91% of the operating budget
was funded by Saskatchewan Health. 79%
of the annual budget goes toward salaries.
The Wall government will fund $200 million
towards construction of the Children’s
Hospital. That’s quite a bit of money, isn’t
it?
Did you know that from April 1st,
2009 to March 31st, 2010 (a fiscal year) the
Saskatoon Health Region admitted 34 492
adults and children into hospital? The
average number of in- patients a day was
698 (excluding newborns), average duration
of visit was 7.4 days, average number of
beds open and in operation (including the
deliver unit, but not including the newborn
babies) was 746, and the average number of
newborn admissions was 4 472. The total
amount of surgeries performed was 33 808,
of those, 14 474 were inpatient surgeries,
and 19 334 were just day surgeries. The
number of emergency room visits was 115
490, and number of lab test performed was
9 308 292. The number of long term care
beds was 2 113. The average number of
home care patients a month were 6 726.
And, the total number of vaccinations given
were 212 319.
Well, if you happen to need to be
admitted into hospital, you might like to
learn about some accommodations hospital
staff provides you.
During your stay in RUH, if you are
staying in a standard room, it will be charge
free. You will be in a room with 4 beds, and
you may or may not have a bathroom. If
you are staying in a semi private room, you
will share the room with 1 other patient.
The room will have a tub and/ or shower.
However, the semi-private rooms cost
$100.00 a night. If you are staying in a
private room that means that you have the
whole room to yourself! You will also have
a tub and/ or shower, but it will cost you
$120.00 a night. Something exclusive to
mothers having their first baby at RUH is
the Victorian Suite. The Victorian Suite is a
large, spacious room featuring a large
television, a VCR, a queen bed, and plenty
of seating room for family and friends.
Unfortunately, there are only 2 Victorian
Suites. The Victorian Suite costs $150.00 a
night. The positive side to “Patient
Accommodations” (private and semiprivate, Victorian Suites) is that you get
Premium Plus cable TV and a phone, and of
course, increased privacy. All features
remain the same for the City Hospital,
except that City Hospital only has standard
and private rooms.
RUH opened on Saturday, May 14th,
1955. The 7 storey, 7 wing hospital would
later become Saskatchewan’s main hospital,
especially for acute care services. RUH is a
major trauma care centre, and it is also a
first class hospital, complete with diagnostic
equipment and labs.
Flash forward a few decades.
Although Saskatoon City Hospital existed
before RUH, it has been through several
upgrades. Our present day City Hospital
opened on October 16th, 1993, but didn’t
start taking in patients until December 13th,
1993. The present day City Hospital features
a nurses’ residence, the SaskTel MRI suite,
the Eye Care Centre, Geriatric Assessment,
a gynecology unit, rehabilitation unit, and
the Cameco MS Neuroscience Research
Centre.
Rewind to about 87 years before. In
1909, the first City Hospital was actually on
6th Avenue North. It was the first municipal
hospital in Western Canada, and the second
municipal hospital in Canada.
The Health Region is not limited to
hospitals. The Kinsmen’s Children’s Centre
combines several agencies such as the Alvin
Buckwold Child Development Program,
Autism Early Childhood Therapy Program,
the Family Resource Room, the Saskatoon
Region Early Childhood Intervention
Program, the Saskatchewan Prevention
Institute, and the Brunskill School/KCC.
The KCC team consists of staff, students,
and volunteers. Together, they help
children reach their potential, despite
disabilities they might have, and they enrich
children’s mental, physical, emotional, and
social development.
The Alvin Buckwold Child
Development Program focuses on children’s
special health needs, such as physical and
intellectual disabilities and genetic
metabolic disorders like Tay- Sachs disease,
or Wilson’s disease. The group may consist
of clinical dieticians, physicians, nurses, a
pediatric occupational therapist, pediatric
physical therapist, a psychologist, a social
worker, a speech language pathologist, and
a therapy attendant. However, in order to
use Alvin Buckwold’s services, you do need
a doctor’s referral.
The Autism Early Childhood
Therapy Program is a program for
preschool age kids who are either autistic or
have a pervasive development disorder.
They provide a concentrated, early
involvement. This program is operated by
Alvin Buckwold Child Devlopment
Program.
The Family Resource Room provides
families with up to date information on
various conditions, services and programs
to assist loved ones with special needs.
The Early Childhood Intervention
Program helps families with children who
are at risk or experiencing delays in in
maturity.
Brunskill School/ KCC is basically
an ordinary public school, except for the
KCC portion, which is actually a
therapeutic preschool for children with
special learning needs.
The Saskatchewan Prevention
Institute is a non-profit organization that
educates people about things they can do to
lower the occurrence of disabling conditions
in children.
All in all, everyone in the health
region works together to keep us happy and
healthy. It might be small, like the nurse
who smiles at you and supports you while
you hobble on a broken foot to x-rays. It
might be large, like the physiotherapist who
helps your little brother walk again. Or, it
might be usual, like your family physician,
who just gives you a quick check-up to
make sure you’re nice and healthy. It might
be fancy, like when your aunt is having a
baby, and gets to stay in a Victorian Suite.
All of this is because of the Health Region.
Healthiest people, healthiest communities,
exceptional service.
Contact the health region at (306)
655-3300
References:
"Saskatoon Health Region." Saskatoon
Health Region. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Feb. 2011.
http://www.saskatoonhealthregion.ca
"Government Fully Funds Children's
Hospital. “Government of Saskatchewan. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 4 Feb. 2011.
<www.gov.sk.ca/news?newsId=10009a905377-4fec-9728-974f92567c7e >.
"Metabolic Disorders" Mayo Clinic. N.p., n.d.
Web. 6 Feb. 2011. <http://mayoclinic.org>.