Saskatchewan’s current surgical wait times have left a young Saskatoon girl waiting nearly two years for her life to return to normal. 

Cassie Reid says in 2024, her daughter Octavia began experiencing a buildup of fluid in her ears and lungs, triggering a chronic cough and overall lung weakness. She explains that they saw an ear nose and throat specialist in 2024 and were told tubes would need to be surgically inserted to prevent further irritation to her lungs.

Reid was promised a callback by January 2025, but so far, she hasn’t heard anything. 

“The best way I can describe it is that she has chronic whooping cough. She coughs until she pukes,” Reid explains. “She’s on two different inhalers to be able to breathe. One of them is twice a day, every day, until that surgery. One of them is up to four times a day (for) emergency. We’ve missed weeks of school. I’ve missed work.”

Reid shared her message alongside NDP Associate Health Critic Keith Jorgenson. 

“We know that the number of people waiting for surgery is actually much larger than the list, because Cassie’s daughter has been waiting just to get on the waitlist for surgery, which is absolutely crazy.”

They call on the province to fulfill its promise to reduce wait times to less than three months for 90 per cent of people. 

A response from the SHA says, “Providing appropriate and timely surgeries for patients continues to be a high priority for the Saskatchewan Health Authority…We acknowledge that any delay in access can be stressful for patients and their families. Wait times for Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) specialists, as with other surgical specialties, are part of our focus on reducing surgical wait times and completing 450,000 surgeries by the end of 2028.”

The SHA also encouraged the impacted family to “reach out so we can support their access to an Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) specialist and work with them to ensure timely access to surgery”, however, “Wait times for ENT specialists in Saskatoon can vary and are based on individual cases as well as operating room and staffing availability.”