Canada graduated 3,700 nurses last year, but it needed 10,000. Janet Storch, director of the University of Victoria’s nursing school, said the gap will remain unless governments put more money into educating new nurses, retaining those who want to leave, and recalling those who have quit. Storch is president of the Canadian Association of the […] Read more
Stories by Diane Rogers
Saskatchewan residents told to celebrate unique stories
MOOSE JAW, Sask. — The best story on Karen Bonesky’s farm in Morse, Sask. was thrown into the well decades ago. That is where the still, run by her husband’s uncle, was pitched when his sister-in-law got hold of it. Most people thought the smoke rising from his blacksmith shop in the 1920s was evidence […] Read more
Health district sues over trust fund
One month into his job, the new chief executive officer of Saskatchewan’s South Country Health District is trying to clear up a nasty squabble he inherited. Norm Poirier’s health district wants to reclaim money donated by a Willow Bunch, Sask., resident for the health of his neighbors. In his life insurance policy, Jared Cayer left […] Read more
Provinces discover what bugs seniors
It is not easy to pick out the most important concern of seniors. That’s why the three prairie provinces all have committees to advise them about priorities. Governments and politicians have looked ahead and seen a baby boom generation that will age into the largest wrinkle of voters within a decade. Saskatchewan is the oldest […] Read more
Sask. NDP candidates outline rural policies – Nettie Weibe
She is a farm partner and mother of four. She drives 50 kilometres twice a day from her farm home in Laura, Sask., to a job in the city. Now Nettie Wiebe wants to sit in the Saskatchewan premier’s chair. Wiebe dismissed concerns that she has no political experience. She said she counts her elections […] Read more
Druggists shed pill-pusher image
– This story is part of our Prairie Spirit series about the people and actions that build communities. – FORT QU’APPELLE, Sask. – From the high counter that blocks a customer’s view, Janet Bradshaw and her colleagues can cast surveying eyes over the drug store. Seven million prescriptions are filled each year in Saskatchewan from […] Read more
Postal rush starts to hit
FORT QU’APPELLE, Sask. – There is still some room in the post office in this south- central Saskatchewan town. Postmaster Bonnie Bertwistle expects Christmas parcels and letters will begin jamming up her work area this week. On Dec. 12, the seasonal flood had barely begun. Two carts loaded with parcels sat in the back but […] Read more
Work continues after rural abuse study
The author of a study into domestic violence in rural Saskatchewan is not letting dust settle on the report. Diane Martz is working on a fund-raising proposal incorporating recommendations from a report released in September by the Centre for Rural Studies and Enrichment at St. Peter’s College in Muenster, Sask. “We are in this area […] Read more
Farm women candidates fail to capture MP seats
Lost in the crowd of 1,000 candidates in the Nov. 27 federal election were two farm women. Both ran for the ND-10-P. Both lost. For Carolyn Van Dine, president of the Canadian Farm Women’s Network, it was a learning experience. Noreen Johns, past executive secretary of the Saskatchewan Women’s Agricultural Network, agreed that it was […] Read more
Rural success stories compiled
People didn’t believe Al Scholz could collect enough good news about rural Saskatchewan businesses to fill a book. Scholz said people would ask him while he was writing the book, “You mean there are 18 success stories in rural Saskatchewan?” Don’t Turn Out the Lights, commissioned three years ago by the Sask-atchewan Council for Community […] Read more
