Transgender patients are driving change within Saskatchewan’s medical community, according to a Saskatoon family physician who specializes in trans care. “When you see a need in your patients or in the community, you work toward filling that need,” said Dr. Leane Pask, who practices at the Saskatoon Community Clinic.

Melfort family physician Dr. Eben Strydon was elected president of the Saskatchewan Medical Association (SMA) during a virtual meeting of the 2021 Spring Representative Assembly (RA) on May 7, 2021.

Dr. Eben Strydom, a family physician from Melfort, was elected president of the Saskatchewan Medical Association (SMA) on Friday, May 7, during the 2021 Spring Representative Assembly (RA), which was held virtually.

The Saskatchewan Medical Association (SMA) is a beneficiary of a new initiative that is funding physician health and wellness programs across the country. Scotiabank, in partnership with the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) and MD Financial Management, has created the Physician Wellness+ Initiative, with $15 million targeted to address the urgent and ongoing health and wellness needs of physicians and medical learners.

A multi-agency online advertising campaign involving more than two dozen Saskatchewan health-care organizations encourages people to get vaccinated against COVID-19 as soon as a vaccine is available to them.

Saskatchewan Medical Association (SMA) president Dr. Barb Konstantynowicz is gravely concerned that the government’s refusal to immediately vaccinate essential workers, including physicians and health-care workers who have not yet received their shots, will result in more lost lives and long-term illness due to COVID-19, and put non-COVID patients at even greater risk given delays in the services and care they need.

The provincial government’s Immunization Delivery Plan unveiled this week fails to give the protections all physicians and health-care workers need to care for their patients, whether they have COVID-19 or not, and does not provide reassurance to patients that the health-care system is safe, according to Dr. Barb Konstantynowicz, president of the Saskatchewan Medical Association (SMA).

More than two dozen Saskatchewan health-care organizations have joined forces in an online ad campaign that targets young adults and asks them to “hang in there” by following public health guidelines to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

University of Saskatchewan (USask) fourth-year medical students will be able to take the national award-winning Indigenous wellness online course, The Role of Practitioners in Indigenous Wellness, at no cost with the generous support of the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) and two committees of the Saskatchewan Medical Association (SMA).

There is a proverb that speaks to looking at the past to understanding the future. It is proving to be very prescient during the COVID-19 pandemic. We don’t have to look too far back or too far away to know what is in store for us in Saskatchewan if our political leaders don’t take swift, decisive action to blunt the surge that is overwhelming our health care system and putting Saskatchewan citizens at risk.