As the population of Martensville, Warman and the surrounding communities continues to grow, thus does the need for more healthcare options. Recently, the Martensville Messenger did an article that highlighted the various struggles that the communities have been faced with, as well as the ongoing effort from Dr. Adamus of Martensville Collective Health and Wellness (MCHW) to bring more doctors and health services to the area. (https://martensvillemessenger.ca/martensville-collective-health-and-wellness-looks-for-community-support-to-help-bring-awareness-of-doctor-shortage/)
On April 26, MCHW shared information via social media, asking for support from the public to help make the provincial government aware of the changes needed, and the importance of this issue. There is currently a petition available at MCHW and Martensville Pharmasave to be signed asking the Government of Saskatchewan to change one of the incentives that prevent doctors from serving in the communities of Martensville and Warman – the Return of Service agreements.
The petition states that between Warman and Martensville, there is a population of approximately 25,000 residents; however, there is less than ten family doctors serving not only this population, but also additional residents in the surrounding communities. It adds that cities of similar population sizes see double the number of doctors, as well as at least one publicly funded health centre, and that Martensville and Warman do not receive proportionate healthcare funding and infrastructure appropriate to their population size due to the fact the government has not considered them urban, regional, or rural. The petition asks that the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan calls on the Government of Saskatchewan to immediately recruit and retain family doctors to the two communities and have Martensville and Warman removed from the list of excluded communities for ALL return of service agreements.
MCHW is looking for businesses and individuals to help them in this effort by collecting signatures (3 per page). The petition itself can be photocopied; however, all signatures need to be original copies and returned to MCHW by May 3rd at 6:00pm.
From there, Dr. Adamus and Dr. Smit will be taking the signed pages to Regina in-person on May 4th to be presented in the Assembly. Members of the public are invited to join them, and if there is enough interest, MCHW will try to arrange a bus with an anticipated departure of approximately 9:30am. If you are interested in joining them, contact mchwteam@outlook.com with your name, number of seats and phone number.
