Sheila Bautz
Special to the Herald
The Government of Saskatchewan recently expanded the demographic reach for important Healthcare services in rural and remote areas of the province. The Point of Care Testing (POCT) is now available for the communities of La Loche, Shaunavon and Kamsack. The residents in these remote areas will have assurance of mind that access to vital health services are close in the event of an emergency. The benefits from the innovative approach to laboratory services at their hospitals through POCT saves lives with fast medical assessments.
“Expanding point-of-care testing into rural and remote communities across Saskatchewan empowers our frontline professionals to deliver rapid diagnostic services and ensures patients receive important lab tests and necessary care when regular lab staff are not available,” said Lori Carr, the Saskatchewan Minister of Seniors and Rural and Remote Health.
The POCT services is one of the overall Healthcare strategies implemented by the Government of Saskatchewan for rural residents. When regular local laboratory services become temporarily unavailable, the POCT ensures there is no disruption to vital Healthcare laboratory tests for patient assessments. In emergencies, the POCT service provides remote and rural residents with vital healthcare procedures that provide information and laboratory test results to attending healthcare professionals. The test results are crucial and required for quick decision-making by Healthcare professionals for a patient’s treatment.
“This approach ensures patients receive prompt access to diagnosis and treatment as close to their home as possible and supports reliable access to emergency departments in rural and remote communities,” said Brandi Keller, Executive Director of Laboratory Medicine, Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA), Provincial Clinical and Support Services.
In 2023, POCT first piloted Leader, Maple Creek and Wynyard in the province of Saskatchewan. Due to the POCT and health care workers, the rural communities experienced significantly less emergency department disruptions. This enhanced the lives of Saskatchewan residents, and saved lives in the rural and remote areas of the province.
“With point-of-care testing, local health care teams deliver rapid, accurate laboratory results without delay when laboratory staff are unavailable at the facility,” said Keller.
As of April 15, 2025, the POCT services successfully intervened to prevent potential disruptions in vital Healthcare testing for assessments on rural residents in Leader, Maple Creek and Wynyard. The POCT and the healthcare staff administered crucial medical tests that successfully assessed Saskatchewan patients in 91 cases. Thanks to the Government of Saskatchewan Healthcare strategy, the POCT health services and the Healthcare providers on duty, the prevention of potential emergency department disruptions for remotely located patients was dissolved in those cases.
The demographic expansion in the province to the communities of La Loche, Shaunavon and Wynyard is an initiative by the Government of Saskatchewan. The provincial government has invested $33,000 per rural site to ensure that emergency departments in rural and remote areas are functioning to help save lives.
Rural and remote locations in Saskatchewan with POCT devices are instrumental for trained health care professionals. They enable trained health care staff to conduct health tests and assess patients for a critical range of specific diagnostics. This includes taking blood samples to check hemoglobin, white blood cell counts, blood sugar levels and conduct cardiac tests. The results are delivered to the attending healthcare staff and physicians within 30 minutes.
“We continue to support the Saskatchewan Health Authority’s efforts to recruit more lab staff in rural areas and will continue working to keep emergency services stabilized across the province,” said Minister Carr.
The POCT model is a crucial component for Healthcare in Saskatchewan’s rural and remote areas. It is a supplementary initiative with a goal to bridge access to quality and important Healthcare tests for rapid assessment of rural patients experiencing a potentially serious health issue. POCT ensures there are no interruptions with important laboratory coverage in medical emergencies. Through POCT and trained health care providers, streamline access to Healthcare in the province of Saskatchewan continues with a commitment to recruiting healthcare staff in rural demographics and laboratories.
