Neepawa wants to reinvigorate regional hospital discussion
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- Published on Wednesday, December 31, 2014
By Eoin Devereux
The Neepawa Banner
New deliberations on a long proposed regional hospital in Franklin are expected to gain traction in 2015. Neepawa mayor Adrian de Groot, as well as deputy mayor Isobel Jarema, recently met with representatives from the Town of Minnedosa and R.M.s of Odanah-Minto and North Cypress-Langford. One of the primary topics of discussion was the proposed joint health centre.
During the meeting, de Groot questioned whether there was still continued support for the September 2010 Memorandum of Understanding on the proposal. The original deal was signed by 11 municipalities, but was completed before the mandated amalgamation of R.M.s across the province. De Groot said it was very important for the newly formed councils to give the MOU a closer look to ensure it still meets the needs of the region.
“What was established in that meeting in Minnedosa was that there is a need for all the jurisdictions and their leadership to get up to speed on the original agreement and what is the current need for the region,” said de Groot. “It seemed as though [the hospital proposal] had not moved forward much recently. There is some momentum in some jurisdictions compared to others but overall, it’s been stagnant. We need to get moving on this file again.”
De Groot added that it was decided to request a meeting between the municipalities and representatives of Prairie Mountain Health to review the status of the proposed new hospital. He expects this collective meeting will be held before the spring.
“Tentatively, we’ve scheduled a meeting between Prairie Mountain Health and the municipalities that are affected for sometime in March,” said de Groot. “Let’s get the ball rolling on this project. Let’s give it a bit of a kickstart. Start to see what the vision for the future is on this.”
As originally proposed, the joint hospital would be located on a site near Franklin, between Minnedosa and Neepawa. The new hospital will be a state of the art, acute care facility with a medical rehab unit. The project has an estimated price tag of more than $100 million and is expected to come with a local cost-sharing agreement involving the communities and municipalities in the area where 10 per cent of the project, up to $6 million, would have to be covered locally. The agreement was originally signed by Neepawa, Minnedosa, Langford, Rosedale, Lansdowne, Minto, Odanah, Glenella, Saskatchewan, Harrison, Erickson and Clanwilliam.
