(File photo/paNOW Staff)

By Susan McNeil

Psychiatric care

Suicide rate in northern girls 26 times higher, a part of psychiatric crisis

Aug 4, 2022 | 11:36 AM

Indigenous girls in northern Saskatchewan take their own lives at 26 times the rate of their southern counterparts and they have been relying on services in Prince Albert, said Carla Beck of the NDP.

Those services will soon be on hold, however, as the lone child psychiatrist leaves the job not even two years after starting.

“It was a huge issue before the pandemic, and it has only gotten worse throughout. This is a huge concern that those families, those young people won’t be able to access care closer to home,” said Beck.

SHA officials said that two child and youth psychiatric positions are currently funded for Prince Albert, which also serves the entire north. They were staffed for many years until one doctor retired and another passed away.

One person, Dr. Randall Zbuk was recruited and given the job of managing the 10 acute care beds for youth and children needing psychiatric help along with managing outpatient care while the province looked for a second doctor.

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“Having one child and adolescent psychiatrist is not enough to really manage the demands of services that are required in Prince Albert and the northern populations it serves,” said Andrew McLetchie, manager of Integrated Northern Health based out of Prince Albert.

Had recruiters found a second doctor, administrators already were planning to lobby for funding for a third person.

Zbuk left because the workload was just too overwhelming, such as a 300 person wait-list just for child and youth care, said McLetchie.

Re-tasking adult psychiatrists to care for youth is not a solution, he said, as the care needed is too different, although they can help provide some support.

“Being a lone psychiatrist is a demanding thing in a community with the demands of Prince Albert,” he said.

Finding replacement doctors when people leave is very difficult as the shortage is Canada-wide, so all provinces are trying to hire the people available.

Plus, the job in Prince Albert is not the same as other communities.

“There is some uniqueness to the practice in Prince Albert,” McLetchie said. “We serve a population that is about 40 per cent Indigenous, so we are looking for someone who wants to work in an environment that allows them to work with the Indigenous population and to make a difference in that population and the general public.”

One thing they are working on is the concept of more integrated care with child psychiatrists in Saskatoon and Regina, but those positions are already seeing a heavy workload.

For the Opposition, the current situation could be mitigated with some changes on the part of the Saskatchewan Party.

Beck said that attempts by the NDP to work with the government have gone nowhere.

A committee was struck several years ago to examine mental health services and the suicide rate but recommended no changes.

“They were to report back and when they did, frankly what they said was what they were already doing was good enough. And it’s not,” she said.

What the NDP was asking for was for party affiliation to be set aside so any member of the Legislature could work to find solutions.

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susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @princealbertnow