Strained relations over hospital

Page 8

Relations between the File Hills Qu'Appelle Tribal Council (FHQTC) and the Town of Fort Qu'Appelle plunged to a new low this winter thanks to a dispute over the operation of Fort Qu'Appelle Indian Hospital.

At a Jan. 8 meeting at the Treaty 4 Governance Centre, Saskatchewan Health, the Touchwood Qu'Appelle Health District and the Town of Fort Qu'Appelle reaffirmed their agreement to build a new Fort Qu'Appelle Indian Hospital (FQIH).

The meeting ended -for now -Fort Qu'Appelle Mayor Norm McLeod's attempts to have Saskatchewan Health take over the hospital's ownership and administration from the FHQTC. However, at a Town of Fort Qu'Appelle council meeting two days later, Mayor McLeod remained one of the project's biggest critics.

"I do not believe that there has been enough discussion on health care services in this community," Mayor McLeod told council, adding that the tribal council appeared more interested in building a new hospital than providing health care services.

"We are proceeding as we had originally planned," said health district chief executive officer Royce Gill.

"We wanted to get the information regarding this deal out to the public," said FHQTC representative president Ron Crowe, "as opposed to some of the rumor and innuendo that's been out there."

The agreement calls for the new hospital to be built on land given treaty status. After a study done by the health district and the hospital board last year, plans are under way to build the facility on Fort Qu'Appelle's south side, near the Treaty 4 Governance Centre. It will still be owned by the FHQTC, but it must meet provincial healthcare standards.

It will also be the first project on a Saskatchewan First Nation to be funded by the province.

"The replacement of the old hospital has always been discussed as an Indian hospital. Essentially it's to be proposed, set up and is to be created for the First Nations community, not the larger community," Mayor McLeod said in an interview before the Jan. 8 meeting.

"It's imperative to have these facilities publicly funded, publicly operated and as a public facility," he added. "That's the only thing people will support with their tax dollars."

Having the hospital owned by the tribal council instead of the province is equivalent to private ownership, and a violation of Medicare's principles, added the mayor.

Crowe and Gill challenged Mayor McLeod's statements.

"We (the tribal council) have attempted to be partners in this community, in providing services for all, over the past decade," said Crowe. "And I'm very disappointed the major feels that way."

The hospital is being run by a government, and is not a profit-making venture for the tribal council, he added.

"Ever since 1962 (when the Saskatchewan government established Medicare) there has always been room for affiliates," said Crowe.

"You can't compare what we're doing at FQIH with private care. We're making no money off of it. We're not paying anything to shareholders. We're providing an essential service."

Gill says the districts' residents face two options-either a new FQIH open to all, and owned and operated by the tribal council, or no hospital at all.

"There's got to be more dialogue, and more facts placed on the table, so people understand exactly what is happening," he said.

"I would predict, personally, that if we don't get a facility built on reserve land-and that idea has already been approved by the provincial government- this town may not end up with an acute care facility."

The FHQTC hopes to begin construction on the new facility this spring. That date depends on approval to start construction from Saskatchewan Health. The hospital is expected to be completed and open to the public by October 2003.

The new hospital will contain 14 acute-care beds, and will provide the programs and have the functions of a community hospital under provincial designation. This means it will have emergency and outpatient services, x-ray, rehabiltation and physiotherapy, and other administrative and maintenance services. As well, space has been designated for a dialysis programming, a multipurpose treatment and health education room, and a spiritual healing centre.

Since reaching the 1999 agreement Saskatchewan Health and the FHQTC have been negotiating other programs for the new facility, such as increased First Nations mental health services and long-term care.

The province will pay 65 per cent of the new hospital's $12 million cost, while the federal government will pay 35 per cent, thanks to funds set aside for First Nations health care. In other Saskatchewan communities, district municipalities, through the health district, must come up with that 35 per cent.