New hospital approved

Page 10

The worst kept secret in the Government of Saskatchewan isn't a secret any longer-Fort Qu'Appelle will be getting a new hospital.

Saskatchewan Health and the File Hills Qu'Appelle Tribal Council made the announcement Jan 10, ending years of negotiations for replacing the existing 69-year-old hospital.

Tendering for construction of the new $12.8 million facility is to begin as soon as possible, said FQIH (Fort Qu'Appelle Indian Hospital) Holding Corporation chairman Ron Crowe.

The rush to ready businesses for construction contrasts with the ponderous pace of negotiations to build the facility, involving four levels of government over more than a decade.

"This is probably one of the most unique situations anyone has ever encountered in the construction of a new hospital," said Crowe.

"It's to be constructed on First Nations land, with service agreements to be made with local communities, the province and the federal government.

"Trying to deal with legalities and technicalities between the different jurisdictions has been one of a number of hurdles in this process," he added.

"Because there has been a strong commitment and willingness to proceed with this project, to overcome the odds against us, the fact that this facility is going ahead is a testament to the faith of all agencies involved."

The new hospital will offer 14 acute-care beds, laboratory and x-ray, a multi-purpose room, which could be used for a dialysis treatment center in the future, and an ambulance bay. It will also have space for First Nations health services, including a spiritual healing center, a 'shared vision' center to deal with the legacy of residential schools issues, and an Elders' winter healing lodge.

Construction is to begin this spring, and the new facility is to receive its first patients within 14 months of the first spade in the ground, probably sometime in the summer of 2004.

Fort Qu'Appelle Indian Hospital was originally built in the 1930s as a tuberculosis clinic for treaty Indians. The hospital was renovated and expanded in the mid-1950s. Non-Native people were allowed to use the hospital starting in the early 1960s.