By Sean Leslie

Shellbrook celebrates grand opening of integrated health facility

Oct 21, 2013 | 5:38 PM

Nearly five years after the project was first approved, Shellbrook’s Parkland Integrated Health Centre (PIHC) celebrated its grand opening on Monday.

The new facility will replace the aging Shellbrook Hospital and Parkland Terrace Nursing Home by providing 34 long-term beds, 20 acute care beds and a wide range of other health-care services.

Premier Brad Wall, along with health minister Dustin Duncan, minister responsible for rural and remote health Randy Weekes, local MLAs Nadine Wilson and Scott Moe joined Shellbrook residents at the ceremony.

“It’s a great day here in Shellbrook but it’s a good day for the entire region because, of course, this is going to serve a large geographic area and a large population. Because of the combination of acute care and long-term care it’s a pretty important facility,” said Wall. 

The creation of new facilities in rural areas, like the PIHC, fit into the province’s growth plan in two ways, said Wall.

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“They’re important in terms of the quality of care, quality of life for long-term residents who have a beautiful new place, but also important in terms of recruitment and retention.”

Attracting new doctors to Saskatchewan, particularly to rural areas, is something Wall said is crucial to support the province’s growing population. New facilities outfitted with modern equipment are one way to bring in new physicians. “Doctors and nurses would like to work, just like any of us, in modern facilities,” he said.

Aside from members of the Saskatchewan Party, hundreds of people from the Shellbrook area were also at the grand opening held in the spacious entrance of the PIHC.

The feeling of excitement at the ceremony was palpable as the community, which raised more than $5 million for the $26.8 million project, saw their new health-care facility finally open.

“The government was in for $21 million, but the rest of it had to come locally and over $5 million of it came from local businesses and people and municipalities, levies so I hope they’re proud of the facility they helped to build,” said Wall.

The Shellbrook facility will also augment the health-care services available to everyone in the region, including residents of Prince Albert, said Prince Albert Parkland Health Region CEO Cecile Hunt.

“I like to think of this site as one hospital, two campuses in that the Shellbrook and the Prince Albert hospital … need to work together because they serve, as a whole, the entire region.”

Hunt is hopeful that the Centre’s state-of-the-art facilities will usher the region into a more modern method of patient care.

“Health services are more than acute care, more than long term care, it’s that continuum from health promotion to end-of-life care, so this community and the surrounding areas have really got this continuum all in one package,” said Hunt.

sleslie@panow.com

On Twitter: @_seanleslie