The Melfort Wellness Centre connected to the Melfort Hospital opened in 2017 and was followed by a number of other projects in Melfort's health care sector. (File Photo/northeastNOW Staff)

By Mat Barrett

Northeast Health Care

Melfort becoming health care hub in northeast, model for other communities

Jan 6, 2021 | 5:00 PM

Melfort has seen its healthcare sector grow exponentially over the past few years.

It began with the Melfort Wellness Centre opening in 2017, and more recently the Heliport that officially was approved for use in November 2020, and looking ahead, the long-awaited CT scanner expected to come to the Melfort Hospital in early 2021.

“It’s kind of making a bit of a hub,” said Melfort MLA Todd Goudy. “And a bit of a model for rural communities like ours.”

Another major purchase in recent years was an digital x-ray machine worth $510,000.

Goudy said the northeast region is really lucky to have what they have in health care.

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“I don’t know if we realize it, but having the capacity that we do have here with all of the doctors and nurses and staff that we do have in the Melfort area,” he said. “We are able to do some things that towns our size aren’t.”

The Wellness Centre was a major addition for the area as it seemed to kickstart a lot in the area. The Wellness Centra connected to the Melfort Hospital allowed physicians to be walking distance from their office to the hospital, and it also brought another drug store, and the option for lease opportunities. A denture clinic was opened there in November of 2018 and a women’s only fitness studio is expected to open at some point in the near future.

The digital x-ray machine, as well as the heliport were spearheaded by the North Central Health Care Foundation (NCHCF) as they needed to be fundraised for. Chair Peggy George says it takes a lot of work from volunteers, donors, governments, local RM’s and many more to make sure projects like these can happen.

“It’s that collaboration of having everyone working in the same direction that’s making things positive and successful,” she said.

The recent heliport construction was a full year’s worth of fundraising that began in January of 2020 and is now available for STARS Air Ambulance for transportation if it is ever needed. It cost around $600,000.

Meanwhile, the CT scanner has been a big topic of conversation for many years, as it was a provincial government promise over ten years ago, and it was announced in March of 2020 that it would be coming in 2021. Goudy said it was a great day when Premier Scott Moe told him that the promise made a long time ago would be fulfilled.

The NCHCF is always fundraising for other projects and equipment in the region. George said their next big purchase is still to be determined.

“Just not sure what the next big project is going to be,” George told northeastNOW. “Maybe it won’t be a huge one. Maybe now the next three, four years will be into a lot of little things.”

She added the equipment does tend to need to be replaced at some point, sometimes every five or ten years.

With the northeast developing their health care like it is, George says it means a lot for the area to be able to have the type and level of care that is there.

“The more toys we can buy for the girls and boys in the medical world, the better it is for everyone,” George said. “The better they can do their job, the better we as patients are looked after, and the better the families are, knowing their loved ones are being well cared for.”

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mat.barrett@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @matbarrett6