REGINA Provincial Ombudsman Mary McFadyen released her annual report Thursday afternoon, this year there was a new focus on complaints related to the COVID-19 response and Saskatchewan corrections facilities. When the province declared a state of emergency in March 2020, many public agencies were forced to shift the way they interact with people in Saskatchewan and how they deliver services. In 2020, the Ombudsman received 2,492 complaints that were within its jurisdiction, 477 of those complaints – or 14 per cent – were related to COVID-19. While the pandemic drove complaints against some agencies up, it also resulted in fewer complaints for others. The Ombudsman said in 2020, complaints related to corrections and health services increased, while the Ombudsman saw a decrease in complaints about Social Services, SaskPower and SGI.
Prince Albert Daily Herald
(File photo/Jayda Taylor)
Even as the province announces a return to family visits at some long-term care homes, the situation in the province’s intensive care units continues to deteriorate.
Saskatchewan currently has 96 patients in ICU. Pre-pandemic, the province had a total ICU capacity of 79.
Not all of those patients have COVID-19. According to Thursday’s statistics, 48 COVID-19 patients are in intensive care, or about half of the province’s total ICU population.
Saskatchewan has managed to add 38 beds to its ICU capacity, but even with the expansion, it’s getting close to running out.
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Prince Albert Daily Herald
Cory Cardinal, right, and Sherri Maier demonstrated outside Pine Grove on April 13 to appeal for better conditions for the inmates inside. (Peter Lozinski/Daily Herald)
Advocates travelled to Pine Grove Institution in Prince Albert Tuesday to show solidarity with a group of women prisoners on a hunger strike calling for better conditions.
Pine Grove is Saskatchewan’s only women’s prison.
Women at the institution began a hunger strike over a week ago and said they wanted changes to address concerns about reduced access to medical care and inadequate rehabilitative programs.
According to the province, some of the participating inmates have “expressed complaints on a number of issues,” including court delays caused by the pandemic, COVID restrictions within the jail, gang placements and canteen selection.
REGINA A COVID-19 outbreak at the Regina Correctional Centre (RCC) continues to escalate; 131 inmates and 20 staff have tested positive as of Thursday afternoon and five inmates have been hospitalized, according to the union representing corrections workers. An outbreak was first declared in the facility’s isolation unit on Nov. 25, 2020, then at RCC on Dec. 9. The facility has been on the province’s active outbreak list ever since. A second wave of spread began the first week of April in the facility, when the Saskatchewan Government and General Employees’ Union (SGEU) told CTV News on April 8 that 18 inmates and five staff had contracted the virus. One week later, the outbreak has grown to impact more than 150 people.