(Dulce Abela/650 CKOM)

By Mia Holowaychuk

Ahtahkakoop Cree Developments teams up with province on new urgent care centre

Apr 28, 2023 | 5:12 PM

The Government of Saskatchewan has teamed up with Ahtahkakoop Cree Developments (ACD) on a new urgent care centre in Saskatoon, and the location was made official Friday.

The current site of Pleasant Hill Elementary School on Avenue S South was chosen as the location for the new facility. The school will be closed and demolished at the end of the current school year to make way for the centre.

“Being very close proximity to St. Paul’s Hospital was an important factor in determining our preferred location,” Health Minister Paul Merriman said Friday.

The project is moving forward after the province and ACD signed a preliminary agreement to advance the design work for the urgent care centre. It will be built and owned by ACD and leased to the Saskatchewan Health Authority to deliver services, Merriman said.

The centre will offer patients a 24-hour alternative to emergency departments for non-life-threatening illnesses and injuries that don’t require urgent attention. A large part of the facility will be dedicated to mental health and addictions services, and will have a separate entrance, the minister explained.

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With Regina’s urgent care centre nearing 75 per cent completion, Merriman said the government is pleased to be in a position to move forward with Saskatoon’s facility.

He said the reason Regina’s facility on Albert Street has progressed faster is because its location was previously owned by the government.

“Saskatoon presented some more challenges because we wanted to have it in the right spot, and we felt that the west end of Saskatoon is where we’re seeing the pressures from St. Paul’s Hospital,” Merriman said.

The Saskatoon Urgent Care Centre is one of two centres announced as part of the government’s $7.5-billion capital plan to help recover from the COVID- 19 pandemic.

Andrew Will, CEO of the Saskatchewan Health Authority, said the facility will improve access to urgent care and will also help take pressure off emergency rooms. It will be staffed with registered nurses, mental health workers, pharmacists, medical imaging technicians and laboratory technicians, he added.

The development of the facility will be historic for the Ahtahkakoop Cree Nation, according to Chief Raymond Ahenakew, who also serves as a board member for ACD. Ahenakew said in addition to the care provided once the centre is complete, the project will also have benefits in the areas of training, employment and construction.

“There’s going to be a long legacy of what we’re going to be able to do as First Nations people in the province,” he said.

Colleen MacPherson, chair of Saskatoon Public Schools, said students at Pleasant Hill Elementary will finish the current school year and will be provided transportation to King George School in the fall.