A temporary emergency department is expected to open within three weeks in a western Manitoba city that was hit by extreme flooding earlier this summer.
Premier Wab Kinew says ER services in Dauphin, Man., will be set up at a temporary facility. The city’s health centre closed when heavy rainfalls caused flooding to the basement and took out power.
“On the site of the hospital and in the surrounding vicinity, you’re going to see temporary structures being stood up there over the next few weeks with an opening day of Labour Day, because we know how important health care is to people in Dauphin,” he said on Tuesday at an unrelated news conference.
Extensive rain in late June and early July left several communities flooded in Manitoba’s Parkland region, including Dauphin. The city of about 8,300 people acts as a regional health-care hub for surrounding areas.
Flooding caused damaged to the Dauphin facility’s heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems, elevators, pharmacy and kitchen.
Kinew toured the facility Friday and, after viewing the wreckage, said it was determined that a temporary facility was needed to restore services quickly.
“All the mechanical … pretty much all of it is completely trashed, it is not recoverable, and there’s so much work that needs to be done in the basement.”
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He has said it could take up to a year before the health centre reopens.
An interim centre for diagnostic patient services, including X-rays, urine collection and blood tests, was set up in the meantime.
Dauphin Mayor David Bosiak welcomed news that a temporary ER department is on the way.
“The biggest issue with the closure of the hospital after the flood event was an inconvenience for all of our local residents,” he said. “We had been conditioned to having tremendous health services right at our doorstep.”
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Residents have been advised to travel to nearby Ste. Rose du Lac or Grandview if they need immediate care.
This has created anxiety for people in Dauphin who deal with frequent health issues or have family needing regular care, Bosiak said.
The temporary emergency department is expected to offer “regular services,” but Kinew did not elaborate on specifics. He said staffing would be similar to what was at the health centre.
Physicians provided the government with recommendations last month on restoring health care in Dauphin.
These including using temporary or innovative solutions to restore as many services as safely possible, regionalize some services that cannot be provided locally and engage with local doctors.
The organization that represents physicians in the province said it is encouraged by the government’s push to get health services back online.
“Reopening the ER in three weeks is an ambitious plan, and physicians are ready to contribute to the planning on how to safely restore these vital services in an interim manner,” a spokesperson with Doctors Manitoba said.
Earlier this month, Prairie Mountain Health said on its website that about 90 staff from a restoration company have been at the health centre to pressure wash flood-affected areas and remove contents from the basement.
Wishing that ALL goes well in Manitoba because the PEOPLE NEED their medical needs met as soon as possible.