"Wow!"
That sums up the feeling quite a few people had at a luncheon in Lanigan last week.
On November 24, PotashCorp announced that they are donating $800,000 to help the Lanigan and District Regional Health Committee build a new health clinic in the town.
As well as the cash donation, PotashCorp will also be donating up to $200,000 in funds to match community contributions, announced Rob Bubnick, PotashCorp Lanigan general manager.
"That's $1 million we are pledging in total," Bubnick stated. "We hope this will move the project forward in a big way and improve the standard of care in Lanigan and area."
Garth Moore, PotashCorp president, told the crowd of municipal representatives that the communities in the area are important to the company's success.
"We want to become the number one corporate citizen in Saskatchewan," Moore said. "We will be donating one per cent of our pre-tax earnings to organizations in communities where we have operations."
Moore said the health clinic would be one more project that would have a long-term impact on the communities in the area.
"It's damn cold outside... but I bet we've all got a warm, fuzzy feeling," said Bernie Bishop, Town of Lanigan mayor, in response to the announcement. "This is incredible news."
The seven municipalities involved had several meetings over the course of a couple of years and realized that the area needed a new clinic to provide primary health care.
In August, the committee asked for tenders to build a 4,500 square foot clinic, but all the bids they received were significantly over the estimated cost. The bids were all around $1.8 million, so the committee decided they needed to start fund-raising to be able to build the clinic.
After the announcement, Moore stated that it was important for PotashCorp to support the communities in the area.
"It's important to have good health care facilities in the area where our employees work and live," he said.
PotashCorp gave such a large donation to the Lanigan project because it needed a real kickstart, Moore explained. The smaller community size, compared to Humboldt made it more important to give it a bigger donation, he added.
The matching program will run until December 31, 2011.
Bishop was extremely happy with the donation, but admits that the biggest challenge for the committee won't be building the clinic, but staffing it.
"Our biggest fear is not being able to get doctors," he said.
There is only one doctor in Lanigan practising at this time, but the committee is hoping to be able to attract three. They also hope to have a dentist and an optometrist set up offices in the clinic, he added. They already have two licensed nurse practitioners.
The committee plans to start construction early in the spring and have the clinic open by fall 2011.
