Construction to start on Spirit Sands clinic
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
We need your support!
Local journalism needs your support!
As we navigate through unprecedented times, our journalists are working harder than ever to bring you the latest local updates to keep you safe and informed.
Now, more than ever, we need your support.
Starting at $15.99 plus taxes every four weeks you can access your Brandon Sun online and full access to all content as it appears on our website.
Subscribe Nowor call circulation directly at (204) 727-0527.
Your pledge helps to ensure we provide the news that matters most to your community!
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Brandon Sun access to your Free Press subscription for only an additional
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
*Your next subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $20.00 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.00 plus GST every four weeks.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 11/04/2025 (204 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
The Municipality of Glenboro-South Cypress has more than a million reasons to be happy, says Ron Jefferies, as the community has raised enough money to start construction on the new Spirit Sands Medical Clinic.
“We have just shy of $1.4 million in the bank for a project that we started in earnest in 2022 — and we raised the majority of the funds with no government help, no provincial, no federal help,” said Jefferies, who is chair of the Spirit Sands Medical Clinic committee.
“We did it all ourselves, so we’re pretty proud of that.”
An aerial view of the Glenboro Health Centre (front with flat roof), which also houses the medical clinic in the basement. The peaked-building behind is the Glenboro Personal Care Home. The green space in the top right corner is where the new Spirit Sands Medical Clinic will be built. (File)
The fundraising goal is $2.5 million, Jefferies added, “and we’re still out there raising money. The architectural plans are complete, and the engineers have done their studies, so it’s looking really positive.”
The current clinic is in the basement of the Glenboro Health Centre, which was built in the early 1950s. On the same lot is a personal care home, and adjacent to that is a green space covering 30,880 square feet, which is about the size of half a city block.
That’s where the new clinic will be built, with the official groundbreaking ceremony scheduled for the end of the month.
“We want our doctors to be happy,” said Alexis Einarson, president of the Glenboro Health Auxiliary. “So, we had to make plans to do something for them. Because we know that we’re not going to get young, new doctors who want to come and work in our basement. I know that for a fact.”
While fundraising may have started three years ago, Einarson said it was always the auxiliary’s goal to use a “significant donation from a local family estate” they received back in 2016 and put it toward health care.
That goal became a necessity when Glenboro lost one of its two doctors in March 2023, which led to fears that the hospital would be shut down.
Land was acquired and committees were struck, including one to hire a recruiter to find a new doctor, Einarson said. And then the plea went out to the community for donations to build a new clinic.
“At first, we were saying, ‘Do you think we’re going to raise enough money?’ That’s always in your back of your mind,” she said.
“And then, holy smokes, it came in. Some of the early donations were $10,000, $15,000, $25,000 and up to $50,000, and that made us say, ‘OK, I guess it’s not just us who thinks that we need health care. All these people want it, too, so here we go,’” Einarson said with excitement in her voice.
The population in Glenboro is about 650, with up to 1,600 people in the municipalities of Glenboro-South Cypress and nearby Prairie Lakes, said Dale Fisher, a councillor in Glenboro-South Cypress.
“At the end of the day, everybody needs health care,” Fisher said. “Nobody wants to sit in Brandon’s emergency for 12 hours just to see a doctor.
“So, we’re pretty excited. We awarded all our contractors about a month ago. We went to tender so that it was done in a fair way and all cut and dried,” he said.
“We had to branch out on a few things like plumbing and the heating, ventilation and air-conditioning, but 90 per cent is totally local,” said Fisher, who is also a member of the building committee and the committee that raised money to hire a recruiter to bring a second doctor to town.
Dr. Tais Pujol from the United Kingdom joined Dr. Banafsheh SalimArouny, an International Medical Graduate from Iran. Both doctors see patients at the hospital and clinic, with support from nurse practitioner Brittany Vrooman.
The groundbreaking ceremony for the Spirit Sands Medical Clinic will take place on April 29 in Glenboro at 214 Warwick Ave., beginning at 6 p.m.
If all goes according to plan “and Mother Nature,” the first concrete pour for the foundation could happen mid-May, with the expected completion of the new clinic in spring of 2026, said Jefferies, who admitted he likes to play it cool with a sense of guarded optimism.
“Oh, it will be a great accomplishment when it’s finished,” Jefferies said, “and we’re making great progress. But it’s not done yet. So, once I see the building up there and the doctors in it, then you’ll see me excited.”
» mmcdougall@brandonsun.com
» enviromichele.bsky.social