I had the opportunity this morning to be present for Commissioner Tony Dagnone's announcement on the release of For Patients' Sake, the Patient First Review Report. It seems the Review was very thorough and did indeed recognize and incorporate the views and stories of patients at the heart of the Commissioner's recommendations. These fall under three guiding principles: Patient First as a core value; Cohesive health care system; and Empower frontline providers. As I listened to Commissioner Dagnone's address I could hardly wait to get a copy of the report to see if injury prevention was one of his 16 recommendations...

...and yes by golly, there it is, recommendation #10: "That the Saskatchewan government and health system pursue and aggressive an targeted emphasis on the promotion of good health and the prevention of illness and injury in Saskatchewan. Not only will this pay dividends in a healthier and more productive populace, it will help to ensure that Saskatchewan's health system is ready and able to help all of us when we need it most." This is huge and from my perspective, another milestone towards positioning injury and disease prevention as a provincial priority.

Thank you Commissioner Dagnone for listening to patients and for listening to all the injury prevention advocates who had input into the review process. An overview and an electronic copy of For Patients' Sake is available on the Health Ministry's website at http://www.gov.sk.ca/news?newsId=920e5560-eaac-4f26-a9f6-a701045a5ab1.

Isn't it interesting where this injury prevention path leads us and how I now have answers to the questions I posed in my October 8th Blog?