Left to right are: Rhonda Fairburn, office assistant, Jordan Wingate, Interim CMO/Family Physician, Amy Wingate, Community Connector for Social Prescribing. 

By Susan McNeil

Medicine

Candle Lake doctor takes role as interim chief medical officer for province

May 16, 2025 | 9:00 AM

After 25 years of practicing medicine in Melfort, Dr. Jordan Wingate decided to move to Candle Lake and open a part time practice there but has now added another job to his workload.

Wingate was recently appointed Interim Chief Medical Officer of Health for the Saskatchewan Health Authority.

He said that he enjoys the challenge of leadership.

“I think I started in Melfort. We were going through a bit of change there when I entered into the group,” he explained. “In the first year or two, I became president of our local medical association, and it has really just grown and evolved over the years.”

That led to being named chief of staff for the old Kelsey Trail Health Region which translated into the SHA.

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“I did that job probably for the better part of 10 years and then a couple years ago, I was promoted to Deputy Chief Medical Officer,” he said.

Then recently, he was asked to fill in as interim Chief while a search committee seeks a permanent placement – a job that he may also be interested in.

As the CMO, he spends four days a week doing that and one day seeing patients at the Candle Lake clinic.

“I am interested in the permanent job but we’re going to see how the next couple months go,” he said.

“For the next month or so, I’m really concentrating on the administration side and getting my feet under me, getting myself oriented so that I can provide effective leadership for our team.”

As CMO, he is partially responsible for making sure good messaging gets out, especially important considering a measles outbreak in Canada that is making its presence known in Saskatchewan.

“My message is, please get vaccinated, please get vaccinated. People have to understand that measles is very contagious and can harm people, especially our young children. So please, get vaccinated,” he said.

It was not a big stretch to change his practice from Melfort to Candle Lake since he has had a lake home for 20 years.

“We’re friends with a lot of the community people there. When it was time to leave Melfort, when it’s time to slow down a little bit, we looked at Candle Lake and after having discussions with their health committee and Mayor Terry Kostyna at the time, we felt like it would be a good opportunity for us to start a physician clinic up there.”

Before that, nurse practitioners provided care for a number of years and still do but now they have expanded.

The nurse practitioner is available five days per week, and he is there one day. The clinic does not do emergency care, so the hours are consistent.

“Right now, I think we’re in a really good spot in providing service for the community,” Wingate said.

One challenge of being a doctor in Candle Lake is the amount of people in the resort village fluctuates significantly.

“In the summer months, it taxes us to keep up because normally we’re around 13 to 14 hundred people in Candle Lake,” he said.

Some estimates have put the population as high as 10,000 on busy summer weekends but mostly, those people aren’t looking to visit the local medical clinic.

The community also has hundreds of seasonal sites that fill up for the warmer months.

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susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com

On BlueSky: @susanmcnneil.bsky.social