The doctors who were rebuffed by North Battleford city council in their attempt to establish medical offices in the city's north end say they are exploring other options.
SpesMed, the corporation of medical doctors who had made a discretionary land use application to convert the former Wilson and Zehner funeral home at 2591 - 99th St. into medical offices, saw their application turned down at North Battleford's April 25 council meeting by a 4-3 vote.
The funeral home was located in a C3 Commercial District. City administration, however, had sought to locate professional offices in the C1 district downtown and recommended turning down the request. Council turned down the application made by Dr. Almereau Prollius and Dr. Elsabe Retief, who had applied for the rezoning in an April 13 letter to the city.
Since then, concerns have been heightened in the community that the decision will lead to a loss of medical professionals from the Battlefords, particularly specialists in the field of obstetrics and gynecology. SpesMed had been seeking to relocate from their current offices in the Co-op Territorial Mall. They had hoped to locate seven to nine doctors at the new location.
SpesMed was contacted by the Regional Optimist for a response to the city's decision. In a prepared statement issued Wednesday, the corporation said they are no longer pursuing the funeral home location on 99th Street and are evaluating other options to seek office space in the Battlefords.
"Although we respect and do not wish to judge the decision of the City of North Battleford to deny our request, we find it frustrating," SpesMed stated in their release. "Over the past several months our corporation has been diligently exploring every available option to the relocation of our medical clinic. We felt that the funeral home option was a very viable proposal.
"Since the decision to deny was made, we received tremendous support from local residents, as well as the Chamber of Commerce to try to appeal. Due to the strict time line we are under, as well as the renovations that would be required to make the building suitable, the funeral home avenue is no longer viable."
SpesMed went on to say "we are continuing to evaluate options for offices within the Battlefords and the Town of Battleford" and that "the BTC as well as the City of North Battleford is involved in this process."
Their statement also addressed concerns others have raised that doctors might be dissuaded from locating in the Battlefords because of council's decision.
"We are certain that the majority of the physicians that were to have been situated in this building will not be influenced by the decision, nor will they decide to leave the Battlefords because of it. In the meantime, we are striving to secure suitable office space to ensure that there is no disruption of service or impact to our patient care."
