Brody Langager
Saskatoon StarPhoenix
Imagine being stuck in an emergency room lobby for 18 hours, witnessing patients bleeding and having heart attacks while waiting for a doctor.
Fran Forsberg says that was her reality a few weeks ago, after taking her daughter to a Saskatoon emergency room due to mental health issues.
“The things that I witnessed. I knew our health care was broken, but seeing this first hand was horrendous,” Forsberg said.
She had to visit the emergency room at Royal University Hospital twice in three days in an effort to get her daughter seen by a doctor. They were promised a room, but never got one, Forsberg said.
Someone who had been waiting there at least six hours had a heart attack in the waiting room, and she also saw someone pass out from blood loss, she said.
She also saw an elderly woman offer to pay the cost to be taken home by ambulance after waiting between six and eight hours in the emergency room and not seeing a doctor, she added.
“I just can’t believe that this government has put the Saskatchewan people at risk like this. The (hospital) staff have my utmost gratitude and admiration because they take the brunt of everyone’s frustration.”
Forsberg said she also had to take her other daughter to the hospital last weekend after she started to hemorrhage from having her tonsils removed.
“She had to have her throat cauterized without anesthesia because there was no operating room available … why is anybody put in that position?”
She challenged Premier Scott Moe and members of his cabinet to go sit in the emergency room at Royal University Hospital for six to eight hours.
“Educate yourself, and see what you are putting the people of Saskatchewan through.”
Forsberg said she works with youth in the community, and saw two or three young people she recognized also waiting in the ER.
NDP Opposition health critic Vicki Mowat said this isn’t a new problem, noting that patients are frequently treated with no privacy and are being pushed into hallways.
“Emergency rooms are at 350 per cent capacity. In December, we had three triage nurses per shift dealing with 115 patients in a day,” Mowat said.
“The system is overwhelmed, and instead of fixing it, we have a Sask. Party government that’s more focused on slogans than solutions … it doesn’t have to be this way.”
The Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) responded with a statement about its commitment to providing high-quality care.
“Throughout the weekend, Saskatoon City Hospital’s emergency department maintained its standard operating hours, from 9 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.,” the statement read.
“On Friday, February 7, and Sunday February 9, 2025, the department did experience a lower compliment of emergency physicians for a period of time, with one fewer physician in the emergency department than usual. Despite this, the department remained open, and a physician was on-site at all times during operating hours to provide care for emergent patients.”
The province has been grappling with health-care issues for years. The SHA implemented action plans to address congestion in emergency rooms.
Nurses have been calling for a nursing task force to give frontline workers a voice in addressing the situation.
