Honourable Cameron Friesen,
As Minister of Health, Seniors and Active Living I believe that you need to be aware that
Flin Flon is approaching the one year anniversary of the closure of obstetrics at the Flin Flon
General Hospital.
The community has been told that this decision will be revisited with the release of the
Provincial Clinical and Preventive Services Plan. The original release date for this plan was
Spring 2019. But as far as we are aware, there has been no announcement of this plan and
therefore our community is still left in the dark about the closure and possible reopening of
obstetrics.
In order to understand the gravity of this situation, I believe you need to have a better
understanding of the reality that faces the families of our area that are forced to travel to birth
their children:
● Time off work and time without pay
● The cost to travel and live in another area while families await the arrival of their baby
● The cost of childcare, pet care and housekeeping while families are out of their home
community.
● Travelling highways in unfavourable conditions without cell phone service for hundreds
of kilometres at a time.
● Women separated from their support systems because, for whatever reason, the support
is unable to join them.
● Loss of time from parental leave as women are forced to take their leave early so that
they can be safely away from our community.
● Disruption of prenatal care.
● Emotional and mental health concerns as the stress of the situation affects expectant
women.
I ask for a reply that you are actively seeking a way to address our concerns and release the
plan so that obstetrics can reopen to provide quality care to expectant women.