Glenboro optimistic about health-care future

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This article was published 12/10/2024 (341 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There is a sense of optimism in Glenboro, with the promise of a new physician moving to the community and plans to build a new clinic, says deputy mayor Ed Bedford.

“There were some pretty dark days about a year, year and a half ago,” Bedford said. “There were days we were wondering if we were going to be able to keep the hospital open. It’s been years of a struggle, but we’re slowly seeing the fruits of our labour.”

Last March, the community lost one of its two doctors, which led to fears that the Glenboro Health Centre would shut down. At that time, Bedford was told the facility would become a transitional care unit, which means a short-term care facility.

Today, the hospital is open, but the emergency department hours are limited. It’s open every Tuesday and Thursday until the end of the month as well as every second weekend.

Bedford said they had to “take a stand” with the provincial government and Prairie Mountain Health to keep their health-care facility open, but when all is said and done, he added, “we have a very good relationship” with the health region.

“And now, we have a new doctor coming,” Bedford said. “That’s through the recruiting process that we partnered with Prairie Mountain Health on.

“They put in $65,000 and we’re paying for the rest, so we’re looking at the total cost in the $140,000 range for Dr. Tais Pujol. But we don’t know when she’ll arrive, there’s still paperwork to be done,” Bedford said.

Prairie Mountain CEO Treena Slate confirmed that a physician from the United Kingdom has committed to moving to and working in Glenboro.

“The recruitment agency continues to support the candidate through the immigration process. PMH is hoping the physician arrives in Manitoba by the end of the year,” Slate said in an email to the Sun.

Dr. Pujol will join Dr. Banafsheh SalimArouny, who was hired about eight months ago. Both doctors will see patients at the hospital and clinic, working alongside a locum, Dr. Gerard Desmond, and nurse practitioner Brittany Vrooman.

Plans are in place to build a new clinic in Glenboro, and fundraising has already started, said Ron Jefferies, chair of the Spirit Sands Medical Clinic committee.

“Our fundraising goal is $2.5 million,” Jefferies said, “and so far, personal donations have been going very well. We’ve had about 70 people donate and we have $650,000, so we’re about a quarter of the way.”

The current clinic is in the basement of the Glenboro Health Centre, which was built in the early 1950s. The walls are cement, and some rooms have a small window while others have no window at all.

Jefferies said the new clinic — at 3,240 square feet — will be built on a vacant lot behind the hospital, to provide the two doctors, a locum and nurse practitioner a modern space to work.

“We’ll have doctors’ offices, treatment rooms, a family room, reception and waiting room, of course, and even a covered outside area if staff want to eat their lunch outside. It’s new, and it’s modern,” Jefferies said.

“For patients, we’ll have a fantastic parking lot right beside the clinic,” he added. “It’s all flat, no steps in the parking lot, no steps into the building. It’s an excellent situation.”

The first phase of fundraising is aimed at the community. The second and third phases will target corporate donations and then government grants.

Jefferies said the goal is to start construction in spring of 2025.

“We’ll be putting out a tender,” he said. “And, of course, we don’t need all the money right up front the first day. As in any construction project, you pay in stages as a project moves forward.

“But we definitely need enough to start the project in the spring and to do that, we have to make a commitment by around the first of January, because, as you know, you can’t just decide you want it built on May 1 and expect them to start a week later. Doesn’t work like that.”

Bedford said Glenboro-South Cypress has had fundraising support from four other municipalities that have representatives on the Spirit Sands Medical Clinic committee — Oakland-Wawanesa, Prairie Lakes, Argyle and Victoria.

The RM of Victoria is northeast of Glenboro and includes Cypress River and Holland. Argyle includes Baldur, Glenora, Greenway and Neelin. Prairie Lakes includes Belmont, Dunrea, Margaret and Ninette.

“It would be all for naught,” said Bedford, “if those communities hadn’t stepped up and come up with the money and everything that we needed. They did, and they’re still doing it.”

Jefferies said he agreed, adding the biggest part of the community’s recent success is because of Glenboro’s health action committee and its efforts to bring both new doctors to the community.

“That’s our main success story — our health action committee, they’re the ones that have been working real hard on getting the doctors, so they deserve most of the credit,” he said.

“They’re getting them here, and I’m trying to get a nice place for them to see their patients. We have to work together. This is all about working together.”

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