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Oh baby, plans for new neonatal unit entering next phase

Dec 11, 2018 | 4:00 PM

Plans for a new neonatal unit at Victoria Hospital have taken some big strides forward thanks to last Friday’s radiothon, which raised over $1 million, but the question on some peoples’ minds may be what happens now.

Sherry Buckler, the Executive Director of the Victoria Hospital Foundation, told paNOW the next phase involves going to the Saskatchewan Health Authority and finalizing the project.

“Once that’s complete we can go to pre-construction and preparing the space for all the infrastructure things that need to be done ahead of time before we can actually put in the walls, and the furniture and the equipment,” she said.

The total cost of the project is an estimated $2.2 million. Buckler said ideally she would love for the province to help with the cost but added the foundation is prepared to go down the road alone with support from the community.

“We have said before this cannot wait so our community has often stepped forward to do amazing things in Prince Albert when the time came and it was needed and this is one of those situations,” she said.

Buckler also noted she could not offer a timeline for when pre-construction might begin, adding it will depend on how discussions go with the Saskatchewan Health Authority and when the tenders can go out.

“All those things need to happen and those discussions have to happen but at least we now know we can begin them because we have the first half of the money secured,” she said.

Plans for the new neonatal unit include 11 private and fully-equipped baby bays with warmers, incubators, medical gases and monitors. Each bay would have a pull-out bed and chair for mothers to be near their infants, which would result in increased privacy and space, and a reduction in noise. Carrie Dornstauder, Executive Director of Maternal and Children’s Provincial Programs with Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA), said the message was heard loud and clear from the radiothon that the support is there in the community for the project. She added though she could not make any funding promises.

 “What I can say is we do know the importance is there and that when this was brought forward to our partners within the SHA and the ministry, that the foundation would raise that funding, so I think our commitment is to continue for the funding model to come at the foundation’s timeline,” she said.

While the remaining $1 million is being collected, Dornsatauder said the SHA can help provide other supports in terms of looking at staffing models and making sure the equipment is in place. She said the Prince Albert nursery shares the same overcapacity issues as the other two neonatal units in the province and she wanted people in the Prince Albert area to know, the SHA remained committed to making sure everyone in the province had access to the same level of care, regardless of where they lived. 

“It’s important for the community to know that our goal is not to centralize but to continue to support the phenomenal team that they have in Prince Albert,” she said.

 

nigel.maxwell@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell