ROSTHERN — The provincial budget may not have met everybody’s wishes, but for the Sask Valley Hospital Foundation, it was the answer to many years of hard work.
The new Rosthern Hospital project has received the green light. A budget allocation to begin extensive planning for the new hospital was announced and the Premier and MLA for Rosthern-Shellbrook, Scott Moe and Minister of Rural and Remote Health, Everett Hindley assured the Rosthern group that when planning monies are allocated in a budget, that means the project is “a go.”
The budget released March 22, committed $2.6 million in new funding to initiate work on key infrastructure priorities which included developing plans for the Rosthern Hospital, as well as the Battlefords District Care Centre, and St. Anthony’s Hospital in Esterhazy. When the project gets to the shovel-in-the-ground stage and the construction moves forward the government will finance 80 per cent of the tab, while the monies raised by the Sask Valley Hospital Foundation will account for the remaining 20 per cent.
The Rosthern Hospital was originally built in 1950, making it nearly 75 years old and although there have been several additions to the original hospital over the years, the building is aging. Two separate consultations were completed by engineering firms and to put it bluntly, the building just doesn’t measure up anymore. As a hospital that regularly serves as a residency placement for emerging doctors and a hospital that serves the needs of an ever-growing population both in the town itself and the surrounding communities, as well as being an “anchor” between Saskatoon and Prince Albert, it needs to be able to reduce the pressure on the city hospitals which means up-to-date emergency room and other equipment.
As the staff at the hospital can surely attest, buildings built more than 70 years ago were not designed for the equipment of today. Technology has brought into everyday use equipment that was not even imagined that many years ago and what was state-of-the-art at the time is now beyond obsolete.
Dr. Don Greve has worked tirelessly on fundraising and promoting the need for the new hospital for nearly ten years and after these many years of never giving up nor losing sight of the end goal, it will finally become a reality. He would be the first to say that he was only one cog in the wheel that just kept rolling, but the dedication and encouragement that Greve gave to the group of the Sask Valley Hospital Foundation gave everyone the motivation and momentum to continue. However, the work doesn’t end here. Government funding covers the bricks and mortar, while equipment and patient comfort items are funded through the fundraising efforts of SVHF’s sister foundation, the Rosthern Hospital Foundation.
The Rosthern Hospital Foundation is a separate entity whose fundraising efforts go to purchasing new equipment for the hospital so that the doctors and nurses have the equipment they need to provide the best care for their patients. Since 2013, the Rosthern Hospital Foundation has invested around $400,000 in new equipment and training materials for staff.
The Foundation has undertaken hundreds of projects to upgrade and purchase new equipment and materials for Rosthern Hospital and its staff.
Every year new needs are identified and brought to us, and we make sure it happens, with your help. Some of the initiatives the Foundation has been instrumental in include the purchase of a new tub with a chair lift, video laryngoscope, digital x-ray equipment, blanket warmer, sleeper chairs, portable ultrasound, a programmable full-size training manikin, wheelchair scale and upgraded vital signs monitors to name but a few.
There are many more with some more glamorous than others but each with the same purpose: to improve the experience of patients treated at the Rosthern Hospital.
While the Saskatchewan Health Authority does provide support to hospitals in terms of financial aid and capital investment, it is restricted by budget constraints and therefore cannot meet every need of every hospital in the province.
Some projects will be funded by partnership agreements between the SHA and the local district, and others will be funded 100 per cent by the monies raised by the local community the hospital serves. It is this fact that has brought about the various Hospital Foundations that can be found around the province. Every hospital wants to be able to provide the absolute best care possible and Rosthern Hospital is no different.
So, when a need in the hospital is identified if the SHA is unable to help, then the Foundation steps in whether it is equipping the health care professionals or improving the comfort and experience of the patients and their loved ones.
Hopefully, the planning process does not take as many years to complete as it did to get the project onto the government’s agenda. Rosthern continues to grow at a rate closely matching that of neighbouring communities to the south along Highway 11 and already the needs of the community may be larger than what was estimated 10 years ago.
