MELFORT — Dr. Allan Woo, a Saskatoon orthopedic surgeon and vice-president of the Saskatchewan Medical Association (SMA) arrived in Melfort to discuss issues of interest to physicians and their association.
Melfort is the fourth spot on his tour, with the previous ones including La Loche and Rosetown.
This is part of a tour through the province that the president and vice-president takes part in each year. The tour is a key method the SMA leadership uses to stay in touch with members.
“The biggest issues we heard are primary care and mental health,” Woo said.
He found in the Northern areas, mental health is a central issue.
“We know the issues of mental health are first and foremost, front and centre in what they have to deal with in an ongoing basis. So whatever the SMA can do to help achieve success there. It’s a long process, there’s lots of confounding factors.”
The issues brought to his attention around it have been access and support.
“We’re always trying to recruit more psychiatrists in this province; we need more mental support at various levels,” Woo said.
“I’m not an expert at mental health overall, but we recognize there are some physician shortages and at a primary level they need more than what they can provide at a local level.”
Woo sees part of that being the mental health of the physicians.
“Part of that mental health is physician health too, we recognize that. Obviously a physician who is not healthy themselves can’t help the patients adequately. So that’s one of the biggest roles SMA has is physician health and wellness, we recognize that’s an important topic so we try to help the Northern constituents. “
Primary care has also been a major focus.
“Primary care, obviously in a rural setting primary care is the backbone of the healthcare system, and we need to be able to make sure they’re doing what they can to the best of their ability,” Woo said.
For primary care, a big issue he heard from communities was access.
“I think primary care always has access issues, whether there are enough physicians to provide the care in the community. And primary care has to deal with a lot of – they’re the jack of all trades in a rural setting, and specialty services are not always plentiful. ‘How do we help them support their communities better?’ Travel is a big issue, distance is an issue. We are trying to see how Telehealth comes into play with providing primary care as well as specialist care.”
Telehealth is a Sask-atchewan program that provides medical consultations and services to areas of the province through videoconference links with designated sites.
Woo arrived in Melfort on Sept. 26.
