John Ash, executive director of the Saskatchewan Health Authority, Dr. Saqib Shahab, Saskatchewan's chief medical health officer, and Health Minister Jim Reiter (l to r) discuss the province's plans for dealing with COVID-19 on March 11, 2020. (Lisa Schick/980 CJME)

By Lara Fominoff

Province’s HealthLine 811 overwhelmed by calls

Mar 12, 2020 | 5:34 PM

Saskatchewan’s 24-hour telephone access to health, mental health, and addictions support appears to have been completely overwhelmed by calls from the public.

After the provincial government announced its first presumptive case of coronavirus, many people hoping to get answers about symptoms they have been experiencing were met with a busy signal.

Health Minister Jim Reiter acknowledged there are issues, but also admitted some people were not calling for health-related reasons.

“We need to ensure that obviously 811 is going to play a huge role in this moving forward. We need to ensure that it’s operating adequately,” he admitted.

“At the same time, I would say that the citizens of Saskatchewan please, we’ve had reports of people saying ‘well, I phoned in to test.’ Like, that’s not an appropriate use of that resource at all.”

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He’s asking people to use it only when necessary, including when residents are experiencing coronavirus-like symptoms including a fever and cough.

That said, he knows there will be more demands on the system, and he’s asked the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) for its action plan by tomorrow (Friday).

Saskatchewan’s chief medical health officer Dr. Saqib Shahab agrees that too many people are calling 811 with general questions when information is available online.

However, if someone has symptoms, that’s when they should call HealthLine.

“HealthLine is also expanding its capacity and also streamlining the calls. They are trying to triage calls,” he explained.

In the future, Shahab says they are also looking at the need for independent assessment sites that can take the pressure off not just HealthLine, but local doctor’s offices.

“We don’t want anyone with a fever and (who needs to) travel not being able to get tested in a timely way.”

Reiter says SHA will be given the resources needed to expand HealthLine services, however, no timeline was immediately announced.