Dauphin will have an emergency room department by Labour Day, said Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew, who made the announcement, last week after touring the Dauphin Regional Health Centre.
“We know that everyone in the community wants the emergency department services back. And that includes the doctors and the nurses, who have been very understanding and very flexible,” Kinew said.
The existing emergency room, Kinew added, will be a big project to get back up and running, knowing people need such a facility close to home.
“So we’re going to set up a temporary facility to deliver that by Labour Day. In the coming weeks you should start to see a lot of activity on site as it starts to take place,” he said.
“And it’s part of the bigger picture, meeting the health care needs of people in Dauphin and the surrounding areas in the Parkland, as well as getting this facility back up and running again.”
The temporary ER will be located on the hospital grounds, although the exact location has yet to be determined.
With the design and details still being worked on, the cost of setting up the temporary ER is still unknown.
Kinew stated they will look at moving other hospital services to other locations within the city. He credits the work of those involved in getting diagnostic services set up in the Provincial Building.
“I think the folks that brought the diagnostics to the Provincial Building did a great job. I’m very appreciative of that. And I think that shows that we can be creative and flexible in meeting people’s health care needs,” he said.
Local physicians, Kinew stated, have been clear about the services they need for the facility to be a fully functioning ER. The next step will be trying to locate as many of those needs as possible.
“You might see a few other locations getting pulled in, as well,” he said.
“And nurses have been also very patient and understanding. We want them to work close to home. Part of this is making sure that those nurses who do need to travel, that we’re going to make sure to the health authority that they’ve got to meet their needs.
“This is not business as usual. We’ve got to support staff, including nurses through this challenging time.”
The challenge now, Kinew said, is to recreate what was in the hospital into a new temporary ER.
“So that, if you show up after Labour Day, you’ll be able to get the doctor to take a look at you, the nurse to assess your vitals, the scans and other tests that you might need and then, of course, whatever treatments. All within a facility that would be up to the highest standard that you expect,” he said.
“It’s pretty big job, but I’m very encouraged by the teamwork and the creativity that we’re seeing from health care experts, engineers, the construction folks, the restoration folks, everybody who is coming together to work on this.”
Kinew toured the hospital, Aug. 14, and saw the damage first hand.
“The flooding was terrible. Huge damage. I think being on site extinguished the last hopes that I had that we could get back into the main building by Labour Day for emergency services,” he said.
“Labour Day has been our internal target and we were talking about how do you get back in there? But once you see condition of the basement and how much electrical and mechanical equipment is damaged, you start to realize how big this project is.”
That said, the needs of the people of Dauphin to get an emergency department, Kinew said, is just as strong, just as concrete as the impact from the hospital.
“Seeing it first hand meant that we had to say, ‘okay, those contingency plans about a temporary facility for an emergency department, that’s the way we’ve got to go. We’ve got to lean into that now.’ So I think that was the big take away from the walk through that we did,” he said.
“Plus the appreciation for all the work that the restoration folks are doing. It’s just a huge job.”
Kinew hopes as people see the work being done to get the temporary ER set up, they will start to feel reassured that Dauphin will have ER services back by Labour Day.