Temporary ER to open in Dauphin by Labour Day: Kinew

WINNIPEG — Premier Wab Kinew insisted Tuesday that the flood-shuttered Dauphin hospital will have a temporary emergency department in place by Labour Day, but offered no details on the plan.

“I’m here telling you, take it to the bank — Labour Day — emergency department services in Dauphin,” the premier said when asked about it at an unrelated news conference in Winnipeg.

The Dauphin Regional Health Centre was forced to evacuate 54 patients and close its doors on July 1 after the Parkland region experienced severe flooding.

“You’re going to see temporary structures being stood up there over the next few weeks with an opening day of Labour Day because we know how important health care is to people in Dauphin,” Kinew said.

After heavy rains swamped the region and flooded the hospital basement, which housed vital mechanical and electrical systems, the Prairie Mountain Health regional health authority reported that the extensive repairs required to reopen the hospital could take nine to 12 months to complete. The premier, at the time, called that “unacceptable.”

On Monday, Kinew took many by surprise — including Dauphin hospital nurses and the city’s mayor — with a social media post vowing an ER would open by Labour Day on Sept. 7 .

“It’ll be a temporary facility for now as the hospital is repaired, but it will be the high quality you expect,” the premier posted on X.

The Dauphin nurses have since raised many questions, said Manitoba Nurses Union president Darlene Jackson.

“The first thing I heard from them is, ‘How can this happen?’” she said Tuesday.

They’ve asked where patients who need to be admitted will find a bed and how they will be transported with ambulance service limited in rural Manitoba.

They’re also asking about diagnostics and lab services and “other basic essentials” required for an emergency department to serve patients.

“Nurses from Dauphin are saying this is never going to happen — that it is way too short a time to get it done,” Jackson said.

“But time will tell. We’ll see how quickly they can get things done.”

When asked for details Tuesday, Kinew said he’s following doctors’ orders.

“The physicians gave us their list of what this facility has to have, and now we’re doing the important work of standing that up for Labour Day,” he told reporters.

Prairie Mountain Health was asked for comment, but the health authority deferred to the premier.

Kinew said the decision to open a temporary ER was made on Friday when it was clear there was no way the hospital’s ER could reopen by Labour Day.

“Last Friday, I did a walk-through of the facility,” he said. “All the mechanical, all the steam that heats the water that heats the facility that is going to make it a habitable space — pretty much all of it is completely trashed. It’s not recoverable,” the premier said.

Prior to the site visit, the government was pursuing two options, he said.

“One track was we are going to move heaven and earth to get back in the original facility by Labour Day or to have a modular temporary facility open by Labour Day,” he said. “Going through on Friday, it’s like there’s no way we’re getting back into the original building within a few weeks, so we’ve got to do the temporary option.”

Kinew said a lot of restoration work has been done inside the hospital but he couldn’t say when it’s expected to reopen.

Emergency services have been available in Ste. Rose and Grandview; both communities are approximately 30 minutes away from Dauphin.

Maternity patients have been directed to Brandon (about 165 kilometres away) and Neepawa (about 140 kilometres away).

Dauphin Mayor David Bosiak welcomed news that a temporary ER department is on the way.

“The biggest issue with the closure of the hospital after the flood event was an inconvenience for all of our local residents. We had been conditioned to having tremendous health services right at our doorstep,” he said Tuesday.

Bosiak said the municipality has had frequent conversations with the province and regional health authority but wasn’t told where the temporary ER will be located.

» Winnipeg Free Press, with files from The Canadian Press