Planning for new hospital in Esterhazy continues

March 5, 2024, 11:28 am
Ryan Kiedrowski, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The St. Anthony’s Hospital Foundation and members of Esterhazy Town Council received an update from the Saskatchewan Health Authority last week about a new facility. While no concrete answers were forthcoming from the SHA, a timeline may be available “sometime this spring.”

“We’ve tried to pin it down to an exact time, they said, ‘Well, maybe three to four months’,” said Mayor Grant Forster after the meeting. “They’ll be able to give us something at that point in time.”

Information Forster and others are anticipating include the number of beds and the basics that the proposed new hospital might contain.

“They gave us some numbers that they had been reviewing as far as demographics, where they projected our population is going to be in 20 years,” Forster said. “They’re saying population is going to be relatively stable.”

There is anticipated to be an increase of people aged 80 and older, perhaps as high as 300 in number.

“They did also tell us that in the care home design, what they’re planning on doing is number one, making the rooms all modernized and by that they mean it’s going to come with individual, three-piece bathrooms for every room,” Forster said, adding that overall design will include having bariatric patients in mind. This is likely to include features such as lifts, wider doorways and chairs as well as overall larger rooms.

“They’re really taking into account the changes in the population, but also in the physical size of the population,” Forster said.

The big question on everyone’s mind is: where will the new hospital be located?

“That’s the real frustrating part for us right now is because that is key to so many things,” Forster explained. “We need the site determined for the underground infrastructure.”

While the Town does have a few locations in mind, nothing concrete has been decided yet. Official word on a location from the SHA could take up to a year.

For now, Forster said the focus is on fundraising efforts for the new facility.

“From the position of the community leaders and people that are interested in health, we’re going to keep the pressure on and continue to reach out to SHA and the Ministry of Health,” Forster said. “We want numbers quicker. As soon as you get them. Our fundraising relies on it.