Health Care

Watson Community Health Centre
Watson has very good health care and facilities.  General practitioners attend the Watson Clinic Monday to Friday.

Services provided are medical care including laboratory and x-ray services, dietary referrals, and mental health referrals.

The facility also accommodates the regular Child Health Clinic conducted by a Public Health Nurse for health care and immunizations, First Aid Courses, visiting mental health nurse, visiting dietician and others relating to health care.

The Centre is connected to Quill Plains Centennial Lodge by a corridor.  The lodge and centre share services wherever possible.

The Watson Pharmacy located on Main Street in Watson provides dispensary services five days a week and is open six days a week.  They carry a full line of health care products.

Meals on Wheels
A number of years back, through necessity, a small group of concerned citizens gathered together to organize a larger group of volunteers who would deliver noon meals to those who require them.

This need came about when the health agency responsible for Watson had a person working in Wadena arranging for the delivery of meals in Watson. Local service clubs were contacted to have their members deliver meals. Watson has a population of less than eight hundred people and out of these numbers, the members of local service clubs and all volunteers must be drawn. With service clubs being requested to deliver meals, it is obvious that many persons would belong to more than one service club and would consequently be repeatedly requested to deliver meals.

The delivery of meals-on-wheels in Watson is organized by a committee of six or seven people. This committee, with the use of the phone book and personal knowledge, compiles a list of people willing to volunteer one week (7 days) once a year, to deliver these meals. We need only a few more than fifty-two volunteers. This committee meets three or four times a year to keep the delivery drivers list up to date. The committee phones the volunteers to verify their willingness to continue with this project by driving on predetermined dates. From this list a schedule is drawn up for the drivers for an eight week period. This list is compiled of the last person from the previous list to the first person on the next list, this is so that when a driver receives his schedule he knows who will deliver before him as well as who delivers after. The schedule start on a Friday, ending on Thursday of the next week, thereby only interrupting one weekend. These lists are delivered to the driver a few weeks prior to their agreed delivery date so that they may make arrangements due to unforeseen circumstances. We are not experiencing any difficulties with recruiting volunteers. Also the cost of delivering is zero.

Quill Plains Centennial Lodge
Quill Plains Centennial Lodge is Watson’s long-term special care home.  Quill Plains Lodge also offers respite services and an adult day program.  They provide dietary services as well as meals-on-wheels for the local Home Care Program.

Quill Plains Lodge relies heavily upon its adult and teen volunteer programs.  Adult volunteers assist with bingo, musical entertainment, religious services and outings using the community Care-A-Van.

Watson Care-A-Van
In 1985 the administrator at Quill Plains Lodge was very concerned about the residents at the Lodge not having access to transportation available to them.  This would include trips to the dentist, doctor or any form of entertainment.  As a result, the Watson Care-A-Van Society was formed July 21, 1985.

The Society is a non-profit organization and is supported by private donations, local government, local organizations, fundraisers and Kinsmen Telemiracle.

Education

Watson School
Watson is part of  Horizon School Division.  The Watson school provides instruction from grades Kindergarten to 12.  The required Saskatchewan Learning curriculum is taught with additional subject areas available for students’ needs. 

The school encourages student, family and community involvement through many activities such as the Grade XII Graduation Ceremonies, Oratory Competition, Winter Carnival, Spring Slow Pitch Tournament, Student Representative Council, Sports Teams and Science Fair.

The school board and staff strive to provide quality education to all.

St. Peter’s Alternate High School
An alternate high school is available for students.  This program offers life skills and work training to the students.  The program uses facilities at Muenster and students from communities in the division attend these classes each day.

Post Secondary Education:
Carlton Trail Regional College
Carlton Trail Regional College is a post-secondary institute which provides accredited education to rural centres at the community, university and technical levels.  The Regional College can be approached to offer classes in a specified centre.

A few examples of full-time and part-time accredited programs that are offered are: Continuing Care Assistant, Office Education, Welding, Educational Assistant, Plumbing & Pipefitting, Bachelor of Social Work, as well as distance education.

The head office for Carlton Trail Regional College is located in Humboldt.

St. Peter’s College
Located 35 kilometers west of Watson, St. Peter’s College is conducted by the Benedictines and is a co-educational junior college affiliated with the University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK.  A full first and second years Arts and Science program is offered, as well as a variety of evening classes.

Protective Services

Police Protection
Watson is serviced the RCMP Humboldt Detachment.

Fire Protection
Watson has a Volunteer Fire Department consisting of a Fire Chief and approximately 20 volunteer firemen.  The department has a new pumper truck, as well as a second pumper and a rescue truck.

We’re proud of our Volunteer Fire Department who is second to none in maintaining up-to-date training and modern equipment.

Watson / Englefeld Emergency Measures Organization
The Watson/Englefeld Emergency Measures Organization makes plans in case of disaster in the community and surrounding area.  An Emergency Response Unit is equipped for disaster situations and local members are trained at the provincial and federal levels.  This organization is committed to full community involvement.

Watson Citizens on Patrol Program (COPP)
For many years the town of Watson had its own police constable but as the years advanced, it became far too costly for our community to fund this program, so the town signed a contract with the RCMP to police the town.

It became known that Watson, which is situated at the junction of two major highways was without a police presence, therefore making it very attractive for people to bring their high powered and loud vehicles into Watson, to compete with our local population in racing up and down the streets as well as performing other maneuvers generally described as stunting, which is against the law.  These people, many of them minors have access to alcohol which makes a very dangerous situation for the residents of town.

The suggestion was proposed that we as a community form a group of volunteers that would conduct themselves as members of COPP.  Since the inception of this program it is quite obvious that when a patrol is active, the occurrence of violations decrease.  If an offence is observed by members of COPP, they report this to the RCMP, who in turn look into the report and may lay charges against the operators or owners of the vehicles used in these actions.  With the implementation of this program the town of Watson has become quieter and more peaceful.  There is less risk for our citizens, especially young children and the elderly when out of their homes.

Quill Plains Ambulance Care
Quill Plains Ambulance Care, with units in the towns of Watson and Naicam, services Watson, Englefeld, Annaheim, Quill Lake, Daphne, Spalding, Naicam, St. Front, Lac Vert, the rural areas of Lake Lenore and south of the LeRoy corner.

For licencing purposes each year, the Government regulations/standards must be met.  This means the staff must have up-to-date training and qualifications, all aspects of equipment in clean, working order, including the ambulance itself, and supplies must meet the requirements, both in quantity and quality.

The Ambulance Service takes pride in their high standards of care and are available 24 hours per day to serve this area.

Library

Watson Library
For over sixty years, the Watson Library has provided an invaluable service to the community and with continuing support from Saskatchewan Library Systems, Parkland Regional Library, and our many patrons, the Watson Library will continue to be here long into the future..

As we continue within the library system, we see the ongoing need to fund-raise for the local branch. In Watson, some of our most successful fundraisers have included raffling local artist donations, a read-a-thon with our local elementary school students, a Don Perignon Champagne raffle and the ever successful bake sales. The last couple years has seen the Watson Library introduce a new, successful form of fundraising through the annual “Mom’s Pantry” fundraiser that is held annually in late autumn. We also rely upon the support of Watson Town Council, local community organizations and individual patron support.

The Watson Library provides many offerings to the community beyond the service of lending books. We host an Aboriginal Storyteller, Story Hour Club, a Computer Program for seniors, and a Summer Reading Program.  Please contact the library for further details regarding these and other programs available. We are located in the Watson Civic Centre at 300 Main Street NE.