New regional hospital badly needed
- Details
- Published on Friday, March 6, 2015
By Ken Waddell
The Neepawa Banner
Municipal officials from a wide area will be meeting with the Prairie Mountain Regional Health Authority (PMRHA) on March 13 to discuss a proposed new regional hospital.
Back in 2007, the 11 doctors that were serving the Neepawa and Minnedosa areas teamed up to promote the establishment of a regional hospital between the two towns at Franklin. The proposal to have a regional hospital was largely doctor driven, specifically lead by Dr. Ong of Neepawa and Dr. Roche, formerly of Minnedosa. It certainly was a well stated case back in 2007 but a lot has changed in the intervening years. The proposed hospital was suggested as a way of replacing aging health care facilities in both towns and at the same time, creating enough hospital beds so as to attract, and keep, a large number of doctors. The thought being that the larger the number of doctors, the fewer nights per month of on-call duty and the wider the range of available medical skill sets. The idea gained a lot of momentum and attracted little opposition.
However, a lot has changed since 2007 and those changes must be considered. Assumptions made back in 2007 are no longer valid. Several factors that no one could have predicted in 2007 need to be brought to the table. Municipal officials and PMRHA officials need to have a very frank discussion about those changes on March 13.
The Town of Neepawa and the Neepawa Area Development Corporation (NADCO) has had considerable success with the new community financed and owned medical clinic. Unlike many towns in south-western Manitoba, Neepawa and area has not depended as heavily on the Prairie Mountain Regional Health Authority to bring in doctors. Recruitment has been a winning combination of both a doctor-driven and a community-driven process. Neepawa currently has six doctors, a seventh, a surgeon, is confirmed to join the clinic in early summer and possibly two more after that. The community owned and upgraded medical clinic has played a huge role in doctor recruitment and retention. The Town of Neepawa and surrounding municipalities have all contributed to a doctor recruitment fund. In addition, the clinic has a suite in the lower level that accommodates medical students while they are doing their practicums.
Population figures:
2006: Minnedosa: 2,474 Neepawa: 3,298
2011: Minnedosa: 2,587 Neepawa: 3,629
As of 2015, Neepawa’s population now exceeds 4,000 and with over 300 Hylife employees working towards their Permanent Residency (PR) status and wanting to bring their spouses and children to Neepawa, that figure is expected to go to 4,600.
School enrolment: Neepawa 2006: 786 2014: 904
Minnedosa 2006: 613 2014: 519
Doctors: 2006 Minnedosa: 6 Neepawa: 5
2014: Minnedosa: 3 Neepawa: 6 (with 3 pending)
The Country Meadows Care Home site was intentionally built by the RHA with enough space for a hospital and with adequate laundry and kitchen capacity for a hospital. Regardless of location, the PMRHA still plans to use Country Meadows facilities for laundry. The Franklin site will require an additional $5 million for sewer, water, gas and hydro services, costs that would be much less in Neepawa.
Neepawa and area has the doctors, the clinic and the majority of the population for a regional hospital. For a much smaller cost than the proposed Franklin site, infrastructure can be provided at Neepawa. Doctor and staff travel times would be somewhat reduced. And perhaps it’s a small point, but when you go to visit someone in a hospital, you expect to be able to find food and accommodation, neither of which exist at the Franklin site
For all the above reasons, the best place for a new hospital for the taxpayers of Neepawa and our immediate surrounding area is Neepawa and we need to make sure that discussion has all the right information in place to make the right decision. The regional hospital is predicted to cost $100 million. The local taxpayers will be charged for 10 per cent on the first $60 million. Should the province and the partners ever be able to come up with the money for a new hospital, it’s imperative that we all get the location right.
Local costs won’t end with the $6 million if a hospital is located at Franklin. If Neepawa’s hospital is closed down, Neepawa’s clinic would have to be expanded again to allow for laboratory diagnostics work, as everyone from Manitoba Health officials, to doctors, to PMRHA officials believe that some lab work would still have to be done in Neepawa. It’s being assumed that the Minnedosa Hospital will stay open with a revised mandate and supposedly the lab might continue to function at that site as well. Somebody, be it the PMRHA, the doctors or NADCO will have to foot the bill for lab space.
While the Franklin proposal has merit, it doesn’t have near as much as it used to have. In the bluntest of terms, both Neepawa and Minnedosa should have as much hospital facilities as possible. How those facilities will look, what size they are and what functions those hospital will serve will be dependent on the respective numbers of doctors and population.
It’s up to our municipal leaders to lead the way to the best result.
Editor’s note: The former Assiniboine Regional Health Authority insisted that the Neepawa care home be located on 10 acres of land so that a hospital could be built at the same site. Both laundry and kitchen facilities were designed to accommodate both a care home and hospital. That plan should be adhered to as the extra local investment in land and facility capacity has already been paid for by the RHA and the municipalities of Neepawa, Langford, Lansdowne, Rosedale and Glenella. A significant portion of the $3 million in locally generated funds went towards the extra capacity built in to accommodate a new hospital.
