By: Wayne Litke

The last year has been a difficult time for southwest residents and front-line health care workers. Local folks have gone from times of jubilation to the pits of despair, and back again, in the course of one year.

On Feb., 3, 2009, the province approved a new health facility in Maple Creek that would integrate a hospital and nursing home at an estimated cost of $27 million. The announcement was made after six-months of lobbying and negotiation by the local Hospital Steering Committee. It was no small feat for the four men on the committee: Duane Migowsky, Tom Flanagan, Arden Erman and Wilf Parsons. There was also a significant buy-in by towns, villages, rural municipalities and Hutterite colonies that committed $12 million in funding.
However, the devil was in the detail and the actual services and number of beds the facility would have proved to be a difficult process. Few details were released during the next year of negotiations, and right or wrong, the general perception was Cypress Health Region was not supporting the Steering Committee’s drive to have enhanced services and more beds. The process appeared to stall and it reminded me of the fallout that occurred when there was an initiative to build a new rink in Maple Creek.
Town residents will remember well how the old facility was small, showing its age, and was going to need considerable upgrades in upcoming years. Instead of wholeheartedly getting behind the project, the community became divided and bickered over the details for 10 years. That decade cost the town (and ultimately residents) hundreds of thousands of dollars as construction costs escalated every year.
The lack of progress in regards to Maple Creek’s proposed health facility was also accompanied by the resignation of three health care managers in Cypress Health Region which further fueled debate about CHR’s support of rural initiatives. The last year has indeed been a dark time for the Southwest and morale at health care institutions has suffered significantly. However, that changed last week (Feb. 12, 2010) when it was announced that all parties involved had agreed upon the parameters for a new health facility in Maple Creek. Does the deal satisfy all the steering committee’s requests? I doubt it, but it is a good deal nonetheless since it will allow hospital services to be enhanced and the facility itself can be expanded to include additional services if the need arises in the future. Thankfully, a deal was hammered out in one year and residents were not caught up in another 10 years of trench warfare. As a bonus, Cypress Lodge may be given second life as an assisted-living facility. That’s great news also.
Just as ratepayers got behind the new rink project, now is the time to unselfishly support health care fundraisers since we have to purchase the equipment that will be put into the new facility.
I also need to mention that support for health care in the Southwest is not limited to financial contributions. Earlier this month, 25 people from the surrounding area met in Maple Creek and earnestly prayed for the health region and its leaders, doctors, nurses and health care providers. It was a very positive meeting that involved humble petitions that the will of the Creator be done, and dissention and grief be replaced with co-operation and comradery.
In my eyes, support of health care in the Southwest has reached a new level, and like most difficult things in life it took a dark chapter to get everyone on the same page. Now is the time to mend fences, work together and strive to build a better tomorrow.