In a long-awaited presentation, plans were unveiled for the new Neepawa Health Centre which broke ground late last year. According to lead architect Matthew Bowering of LM Architectural Group, they are currently about two thirds of the way through the project design and are at the stage of detail design, which includes layout and design of individual rooms within the facility.

Debbie Poole, Regional Lead for Clinical Planning with the Prairie Mountain Health Authority, took audience members through the process of how they came up with the overall plan, which included looking at the health statistics of the community and projected requirements for the future as well as consultations at multiple levels. Some elements that became priorities early on were an expanded emergency department and increased number of beds. The schematic design, which incorporates how sections of the hospital are arranged, was the next step. This includes, for instance, locating diagnostic services such as X-ray and ultrasound in proximity to the emergency room treatment spaces.

A mock-up of a patient room was created in available warehouse space just outside of town and furnished with some older model equipment, and over 40 nursing staff and physicians, including some retirees, were invited to explore the space and offer suggestions in terms of layout, equipment needs, and flow. This is contributing to the current detail design phase of the project, and both Poole and Bowering indicate that many of the suggestions have already proved vital to their plans.

The addition of renal care treatment services was previously announced, but community members got their first look at what that would look like thanks not only to complete floor plans of all three floors of the facility but also artist’s renders of some of the key areas of the hospital which also included the exterior entrance and inner atrium. Some details that had previously been unknown were that each of the sixty planned patient rooms will be a single room with its own washroom facilities, and the hospital will also feature a helipad to the north of the building near the ambulance bays and emergency department.

Many questions from the audience were regarding planned hospital services, including obstetrics and pediatrics, along with a few specific building design questions such as fire suppression and ceiling heights. However one of the main points discussed that hadn’t been covered by the previous presentation was access points and utility services to the hospital site. Those fall under the town’s responsibilities, and Mayor Brian Hedley was on hand to give an update on the progress of extending water and sewer lines to the site and developing roads to service the hospital as direct access off of Highway 16 will be limited.
 
Staffing the new facility was recognised to be a huge challenge. One aspect of the RHA’s plan includes a wide scale educational push for all current staff to be able to transition from the old facility into the new one, which will be a wholly digital environment. They also continue to look at out of province and overseas recruitment, establishing training programs in the Neepawa area for healthcare professionals, and facilitating the credentialing process for professionals who already live in the area but are not currently able to practise in Canada.

The Neepawa Health Centre is scheduled to open in 2025.