DAVIDSON— Worried about physician recruitment and retention a group of concerned citizens attended a Sept. 11 meeting of Davidson town council’s medical liaison committee.
Their presence at the special meeting was unexpected. The committee, which is made up primarily of members of Davidson town council, had called the meeting to discuss recruiting a second physician to Davidson.
“Heartland Health and the town of Davidson have been working to get another physician in Davidson,” Davidson Mayor Clayton Schneider told the group at the start of the meeting. “This meeting is to be proactive in regards to what it’s going to look like.”
Money has been put aside by the provincial government to have another doctor in this area, Schneider said. A second physician is needed so there is 24-hour emergency coverage out of Davidson Health Centre, he said.
“As a group we are concerned that you guys are taking on a huge load,” Gloria Cool said. She suggested that the medical liaison committee should have more members to include representation from rural municipalities and neighbouring towns and villages that use medical services located in Davidson.
To read the full article, please see the Sept. 22 print edition of The Davidson Leader. To subscribe, please call 306-567-2047. Digital edition available.

DAVIDSON—Ever since a huge DQ Grill and Chill sign went up on Highway 11 Trevor Dieno has had to turn away potential customers.
The much-anticipated restaurant isn’t open for business, but it will be very soon.
“We feel terrible people walk in and we can’t serve them. All day and every day, pretty much since the sign went up,” Dieno says of the steady stream of people who stop for a tasty treat.
The sign, which at 45 square feet is the largest DQ sign in North America, acts as a beacon to the travelling public.
If the weather co-operates, meaning it doesn’t rain much, and the contractor can pave the parking area, Dieno projects the Grill and Chill will be open for business the second week of October.
This will be sweet news to many.
To read more about the DQ Grill & Chill at Davidson, please see the Sept. 22 print edition of The Davidson Leader.

DAVIDSON—Family and friends of local potash miners spent anxious hours last Wednesday and Thursday, waiting to hear from their loved ones who were trapped underground.
A water truck caught fire at about 3:30 – 4 p.m. last Wednesday afternoon at PotashCorp’s Allan mine, forcing 96 miners to seek refuge.
The fire set off stench gas, an alert gas that warns miners of fire, signaling them to seek shelter in one of the mine’s refuge stations. These stations are sealed to protect workers from flames and from breathing smoke or harmful gas. Other workers who weren’t able to get to a refuge station, built their own.
Ryan Shaw, who works at the Allan mine and is a member of its mine rescue team, said his shift was nearly over when he heard about the fire. The rescue teams got organized. Shaw said his five-member team, including Kirk Johnson, was the first rescue team to go down into the mine.
Shaw said when the stench gas is set off, miners “brattice” themselves in. Using a large plastic curtain, they seal themselves in an area where they have clean air and then wait for help.
“We’re always taught to follow procedure, to find the good air.”
As the first team into the mine, they were wearing breathing apparatus. It was their job to establish where the air was good.
Shaw said they made their way towards the fire, which was 1.1 kilometres underground and then another 5.8 km north of the shaft. Along the way, Shaw said they checked on workers who were in refuge stations or in brattice shelters.
“As long as nobody has health issues, we leave them there because we know they’re safe,” Shaw said.
At about 7:30 p.m. Shaw’s team made it to the fire. He said the plastic water tank and the truck’s rubber tires were still burning, so they extinguished the blaze.
Once the fire was out, it was a matter of waiting for smoke and gas to clear so they could remove workers from the refuge stations.
There were about 12 mine rescue teams, 30 people in all going up and down through the course of the operation, involved in the rescue that lasted until about 9 p.m. Thursday when all the trapped workers made it safely to the surface. Shaw and Johnson went down three times between Wednesday afternoon and Thursday night.
The fire burned three power feeder cables and some communication lines that were in the area.
To learn more, please see the Sept. 15 print edition of The Davidson Leader. To subscribe, call 306-567-2047.