Officials with the town and the health region are considering recommendations which came out of a coroner’s inquest this week in La Ronge.
The inquest was called after the September, 2010 death of 32-year-old Walter Clinton McKenzie of Brabant Lake.
He died after being airlifted to Royal University Hospital in Saskatoon.
McKenzie had been picked up by the RCMP at the La Ronge Health Centre and taken to the police drunk tank.
A six-member jury spent four days hearing testimony about the last hours of Walter Clinton McKenzie’s life — including the time he spent in an RCMP cell.
He had a blood alcohol level about seven times the legal limit and was also suffering from a brain injury.
A pathologist testified that McKenzie died from a brain hemorrhage caused by blunt force trauma to his head.
The injury happened some time before the police picked him up.
Asked how similar deaths could be avoided, the jury urged the health region to buy a handheld brain scanner, so doctors can check for neurological problems.
Mamawetan-Churchill River Health Region CEO Andrew McLetchie says discussions on this idea have already started.
“The technology that is being referred to, the hand-held CT scanner is a very new technology and in some ways is still in the testing stage” he adds “there is some discussion that had been happening prior to the inquest that some of our physicians have been involved in, looking to see whether or not having this device up here for a period of time would be helpful to provide a better service to people in the community”.
The jury also recommended that the Town of La Ronge and the health region set up an overnight shelter, with medical caregivers on staff, to give homeless or intoxicated people a safe place to go.
La Ronge Mayor Thomas Sierzycki says he supports that idea, but it could be complicated.
“Unfortunately we do have some jurisdictional chaos in northern Saskatchewan because there are alot of service providers and there are alot of unique programs happening” he adds “I think with our lobbying ability and our planning ability, I think we can definately be a partner”.
And finally, the coroner’s jury also advised the RCMP to take care to enforce their own policies about doing physical checks of prisoners.