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Proven leadership: Mayor Dionne’s future for Victoria Hospital

Sep 15, 2016 | 8:03 AM

The number one issue for Mayor Greg Dionne, seeking re-election in the upcoming municipal election, is a new hospital.

“I visit the hospital often, to see staff and patients, and just by looking around you can see why we need a new hospital,” he says.

Navigating the narrow corridors of Victoria Hospital is practically a gauntlet, forcing patients to move around machinery and beds which make it difficult to get around. Overcrowding has been an issue as well, making the need for a new hospital all the more pressing.

While a new hospital for Prince Albert is unquestioned, the funding model for such an elaborate construction is not.

Under the current proposed funding, which mayor Dionne opposes, Prince Albert households would be levied $500 a year to pay for the new hospital.

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If the new hospital costs $400 million to build, the Prince Albert Parkland Health Region will pay 20 per cent, or roughly $80 million, from all of its partners for the project.

The city would then pay $70 million by placing a levy on the approximately 13,500 taxable properties in Prince Albert. That means $500 a year for 10 years from everyone.

Mayor Dionne says this is unacceptable, given how Victoria Hospital is used provincially. “The province should fund our hospital 100 per cent,” he says.

He isn’t the only one who feels this way. During the mayor’s state-of-the-city address, Grand Chief Ron Michel announced the results of a recent study which showed 85 per cent of patients at Victoria Hospital were northerners.

Even Premier Brad Wall agrees with the mayor on the need for a provincial funding model.

When Wall visited Prince Albert he said “A strong case has been made” for Victoria Hospital being funded as a provincial hospital.

“An issue that we have talked about with the mayor and council and MLA’s, is whether or not the Prince Albert situation needs to be treated more like a tertiary care centre like Regina and Saskatoon, where there’s 100 per cent funding for a hospital because they’re centers that serve a large area of the province,” Wall said during a visit to Prince Albert in March, 2016.

For Mayor Dionne, Prince Albert has proven itself time and time again to be at the heart of northern health care, which means it needs to be funded as a provincial hospital. “We’re no different than Saskatoon or Regina and their hospitals are paid for fully by the province,” he says.

A new, provincially funded hospital will provide better and more accessible care to Prince Albert and northern Saskatchewan residents. Expanded services, provided by the medical specialists enticed to work at Victoria Hospital due to the new facility, means residents will be able to have all of their medical concerns treated in town. Trips to Saskatoon and Regina for a special test or treatment will become a thing of the past.

A new hospital also benefits the city economically.

A new hospital would take roughly 3-4 years to build, during which time nearly every company in Prince Albert would contribute. Plumbers, electricians, IT specialists and designers would all work on the project, which would boost local businesses tremendously.

The work doesn’t stop once the hospital is built. Maintenance on the new Victoria Hospital will provide stimulus to Prince Albert’s economy for decades to come.

“The economic benefit of a new hospital will start on day one of construction and then continue on forever,” Mayor Dionne says.

Plans have already been drafted for the new hospital, which would be built on the existing and already purchased hospital land. The plans are currently in front of officials in Regina, awaiting decision.

“A new hospital will be one of the biggest boons this city has ever seen,” Mayor Dionne says.

Under Mayor Dionne’s proven leadership, momentum has gathered on substantial infrastructure projects such as a new hospital.

With four more years of confident direction, Prince Albert will achieve all of its potential.