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The Holy Family Hospital in 1997. (Image Credit: P.A. Historical Society/Facebook)
Last Goodbye

One final celebration planned for Holy Family Hospital

Aug 6, 2026 | 9:50 AM

It’s been 29 years since the Holy Family Hospital shut down, and over the years there have been multiple events to honour the building and the legacy created by those that worked there. 

On Sept. 8 at the Wildlife Federation Building, one final celebration, the Holy Family Hospital Farewell, will mark the final gathering to honour the closed hospital. 

It’s bittersweet for Barb Fisher, who’s organizing the event as one of the registered nurses who was on the surgical floor of the hospital when it closed. While she’s excited to bring everyone together one last time, knowing it’s the last time changes that feeling a bit. 

“It’s been interesting because my response that I’ve gotten from people, it’s a happy, but it’ll be a sad occasion. There’ll be some tears there for sure. We’re not getting any younger, those who worked at the Holy Family, we’re not teenagers anymore.” 

The biggest part of preparing for the final celebration is getting the word out to all the former employees, which can be a big undertaking with how spread out everyone has gotten. So far they already have over 100 former employees registered, and now the task is finding those last few stragglers that worked at ‘the Holy’. 

“If anyone is out there, they’re welcome to contact me and we can take registrations up to a week prior to the event. When this started, it started as a little group of nurses that would meet for lunch, and then now it’s extended to anyone who’s worked at the Holy to come in and talk about our memories and enjoy our kind of time together renewing friendships.” 

If you asked anyone that attended the last celebration in 2024 about what made the hospital so special, they would tell you about the level of pride the staff at the Holy had in the care they provided. Fisher is still working in the healthcare field, and she said that it doesn’t have the same connected feeling that it did when she was working at he Holy. 

“It was a Catholic hospital. I myself am not Catholic, but it was just a togetherness. It was like a family. We had picnics every year, and now I still work in the health care, and you’re a number. You’re not part of a family anymore. You want to talk to somebody who’s a manager, then you’re talking to somebody in Swift Current. It’s way different now than what it used to be for sure, and yes, we’ve prided ourselves on the quality of care, for sure.” 

If there is anyone out there that worked at the Holy Family Hospital before it closed in 1997, that still has not received an invite to the event, Fisher urges them to contact her at 306-961-3212. 

nick.nielsen@pattisonmedia.com