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Judy Naylen depends on that care. She has “flare ups” of asthma that periodically force her to drive 10 minutes to the Arcola Health Centre in southeast Saskatchewan. The other options are bad. She said it would take 25 minutes for paramedics to get to her farm, and at least 40 minutes to drive to the nearest hospital in Estevan or Redvers.

“My throat swells, ” she said, “and there’s a good possibility that I wouldn’t make it there.”

Naylen said she’s “shocked” to learn the Saskatchewan Health Authority is moving forward with plans to temporarily close emergency services in Arcola when there are zero COVID-19 cases across the southern region.

“Why is this going forward?” she asked. “Why would we not wait until there’s a surge in cases?”

SHA CEO Scott Livingstone responded during a press conference Wednesday, saying that the closures were announced “weeks ago” and involved consultations with communities.

In integrated facilities that provide long-term care, the closures are necessary to protect vulnerable residents from the risk of infection, according to Livingstone. More generally, the SHA needs to “maintain capacity for COVID surges and outbreaks as they arise throughout the pandemic.”

Part of that plan involves freeing up beds in large urban hospitals by moving patients who don’t need a high level of care to smaller centres.

But Naylen remains frightened. She sent a letter to Premier Scott Moe, warning that a 45-minute drive “feels like an eternity” when she can’t breathe.

She said many in the community share her worries.

“We’re all really concerned,” she said. “There’s 700 people here who depend on it, and that’s not even the surrounding area.”

Bailey Verbeem is one of them. She said her young son received “amazing” care during a serious respiratory emergency in January. Like Naylen, she was “shocked” when she learned Arcola’s emergency room would be among the temporary closures.

“I’m definitely scared that something could go wrong again, so not having it in town is really scary,” she said. “I know it’s only an hour away from either Estevan or Weyburn.

“But I don’t know if he could make it.”

Verbeen urged SHA to give the closure a second look.

“I really hope they rethink it,” she said.

Nurses’s union worries testing falling short

The SHA has long touted a pan-Saskatchewan approach that allows it to dispatch resources to outbreak zones — and there’s still a troubling outbreak in La Loche.

The province reported a total of 149 active cases in the far north as of Wednesday.

But there were just four new cases reported that afternoon, the third straight day of single digit numbers. That’s far fewer than at the height of the outbreak in the La Loche area. Premier Scott Moe argued that the situation there appears to be improving.

“What you’re doing is working,” Moe told residents.

But the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses (SUN) is questioning the province’s testing strategy in the La Loche area. Officials had previously said that 19 mobile testing units would fan out across the community to reach every single person. That isn’t happening.

SUN president Tracy Zambory heard from a nurse on the ground in La Loche that there were only two mobile teams as of Tuesday. Zambory believes testing efforts are falling short of what was promised. It leaves her wondering whether the province’s case numbers in northern Saskatchewan are accurate.

“There is no mass testing,” she said. “They are not going to every house. They’re only going to referred houses where someone is symptomatic and those referred houses are coming from public health.”

According to Zambory’s information, nurses are overburdened.

“They are working very hard,” she said. “It is very, very busy.”

She blamed staffing issues that, in her view, stem from poor communication about how nurses would be required to self-isolate if they return after work in northern Saskatchewan.

Livingstone responded that more than 35 additional staff have joined the fight against COVID-19 in the La Loche area, including those working in mobile units and drive-through testing. The SHA is still following a door-to-door strategic testing approach that meets demand, according to a statement.

Livingstone said testing efforts have already reached 200 of 750 households in the community.

But he acknowledged that there are not 19 mobile units in La Loche. Livingstone said the area’s medical health officer pointed to a need to “change the strategy” as more people in the community began to stay at home.

He was adamant that the change in approach did not affect testing capacity, which he said “has never been at risk.”

“We are still and continue to swab, and are committed to going to every single household in that community,” Livingstone said.