Agreement means better facilities

Page 16

Chiefs, tribal councils, health care workers and representatives of both the federal and provincial government have found a way to improve the quality of health care facilities for First Nations in the Fort Qu'Appelle region.

Health Minister Pat Atkinson and officials from the File Hills Qu'Appelle Tribal Council signed an agreement last month to provide capital funding for a replacement to the Fort Qu'Appelle Indian Hospital.

It's the first time the Government of Saskatchewan has agreed to provide funds for building a health care facility on reserve land.

Like the 60-year-old facility it will replace, the new Fort Qu'Appelle Indian Hospital will serve the medical needs of both the Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal communities. And like the current hospital, it will be owned, through a holding company, by the File Hills Qu'Appelle Tribal Council, unlike any other hospital in the province.

"This is a good day for First Nations people and for all the people of the Fort Qu'Appelle area," said File Hills Qu'Appelle Tribal Council representative president Ron Crowe.

"This new hospital will improve access to health services for all people in this part of Saskatchewan," added Crowe, who also chairs the Joint Capital and Planning Commission, the group which represented the tribal council in negotiating the deal.

Wednesday's agreement means Saskatchewan Health, the Touchwood Qu'Appelle Health District, and the File Hills Qu'Appelle Tribal council will begin the planning process for a new Fort Qu'Appelle Hospital, Atkinson said.

"We will determine which programs will be in the facility, the level and kind of services within the facility," she added. "There's been so much discussion that's taken place - in terms of understanding each other and what each side wants and what is possible - that we think this (the planning stage) will not be a too difficult process."

The groundbreaking deal "demonstrates the evolving and strengthening relationship among our various governments, communities, and First Nations," Atkinson said.

"There is still a lot of work to be done with the planning for a site and the level of services to be in the new facility," Atkinson said. "But I'm confident that the hard work and good will that made this agreement possible can be brought to further negotiations."

While no site as been selected for the new hospital, it will be built on land that will be granted reserve status.

The agreement calls for the new hospital to be open by Oct. 31, 2003.

Part of the funding for a new hospital will come from a special grant made by the federal government in 1996, when it turned over responsibility of health care operations in the province to tribal councils.

Under that agreement the federal government will provide money for First Nation's health care facilities when the province and tribal councils can reach a deal.

When Saskatchewan Health approves the construction of a new health care facility, the department provides 65 per cent of the new facility's construction cost. The local health district, through municipal levies, donations made in trust and fundraising, is to pay for the remaining 35 per cent plus the cost of equipping and furnishing.

However Fort Qu'Appelle's situation isn't so simple, due to its unique history. While provincial governments, have the constitutional responsibility for meeting health care needs, Treaty 4, signed by federal government representatives and chiefs in 1874, explicitly states that meeting First Nations' health care needs is Ottawa's responsibility.

In the new Fort Qu'Appelle Indian Hospital's case, Atkinson said, the province will pay the customary 65 per cent of the anticipated $12 million building cost.

The Touchwood Qu'Appelle Health District's 35 per cent portion will be paid through the federal government's funds. Local fund-raising efforts will pay for furnishing the facility, including providing a center of excellence for diabetes prevention and treatment and a dialysis cente, said Crowe.

"One of things that will be important to the Fort Qu'Appelle community - Native and non-Native - is that we're going to be starting some fund-raising drives. This whole community is going to have to stand together and start raising funds."

That local fund-raising will help pay for equipment such as a dialysis machine and other material for a facility within the new hospital for diabetes prevention and treatment. This center of excellence, Crowe said, will help treat "the epidemic diabetic situation we have in First Nations communities, as well as non-Native people who are also afflicted. We will need equipment and activities to do that."

Talks between the Joint Capital and Planning Commission, on the hospital board's behalf, and Saskatchewan Health were stalled until last February over whether the provincial government would fund a project that would be on land given reserve status.

The provincial cabinet decided at that time to break precedent, Atkinson said.

"The cabinet made a decision that we needed to change the province's historic position on this, and that we needed to enter into a partnership with First Nations along with health districts and the public in developing a new process."

The current Fort Qu'Appelle Indian Hospital was built in 1936, replacing a facility on the Peepeekisis reserve, near Balcarres. The facility last underwent major renovations in the 1950s.

The hospital was built initially to serve the medical needs of First Nations people. Non-First Nations people were not allowed to be admitted as patients until 1962.

The Touchwood File Hills Qu'Appelle Tribal Council, forerunners to the File Hills Qu'Appelle Tribal Council, took over the hospital's management from the federal government in 1996.

The hospital is funded through an operating agreement with the Touchwood Qu'Appelle Health District. That agreement will have to be revised to reflect the new level of service when the new hospital opens, said the district's chief executve officer, Royce Gill.

"We're involved in the site selection and needs assessment committee," Gill said. "Once we determine the level of services, we will be providing operating funding."

The province and tribal council were expected to sign this agreement in August, but the day before the scheduled signing ceremony Premier Roy Romanow called the provincial election.

Meanwhile, the File Hills Agency's Health and Social Development Centre is already is already up and running.