Prairie Mountain Health has put out a news release detailing some of their next steps to restore basic healthcare in Dauphin in the immediate future.
Treena Slate, Prairie Mountain Health CEO, said she knows the level of communication hasn't been ideal, but there's been a lot of moving parts behind the scenes, especially working with partners in Shared Health Manitoba.
"I am personally striving to ensure that we're providing regular communication and updates to the public and to local leaders and stakeholders, at least on a weekly basis," said Slate.
The first part of Prairie Mountain Health's news release mentions ongoing inspections and assessments of the DRHC, and they're waiting on final reports to finalize timelines for major steps, including replacing components and restoring electrical and mechanical functions.
"There are many people working on the cleanup efforts there, the crawl space is still full of mud and silt, and there's still lots of working going on to clean that up and thoroughly assess that has occurred in the building...significant amount of damage and work required to analyze that damage, and to make assessments in terms to the timelines to replace what was damaged and reinstall it," said Slate.
Slate and Prairie Mountain Health recognize that Dauphin has very little healthcare capability right now. The bolstering of the Grandview and Ste. Rose Emergency Departments was designed to be a quick bandage to stop the bleeding, so to speak. Now that time has passed, Prairie Mountain Health has made some decisions on how to restore basic healthcare to Dauphin, and will have a lot more details soon.
"So we are looking at establishing a community-based diagnostic centre, where people can go and get lab work done, portable x-rays, so that is being established, and hopefully in the next few weeks we'll have more information on that, as we determine firm timelines on that...we also are examining the possibility of moving back hemodialysis closer to home, and also cancer care closer to home. So those are the things that are in the works right now, lots of effort is being put into sourcing space available that will meet the clinical needs of those programs," said Slate.
Timelines has seemed to be Prairie Mountain Health's latest buzz word - you'll find it in most of their communications from the last two weeks. Going forward, Slate said she hopes to keep residents better informed by releasing weekly updates, to make sure residents know that Prairie Mountain Health is actively working to restore healthcare in the community.
"Definitely less than a month we'll have information, we'll know for sure when we can get the community-based diagnostic centre up and running, and I don't have timelines yet for hemodialysys and chemotherapy, but we're hoping soon. Next month, I'll able to tell you a timeline on that for sure," said Slate.
The next few weeks for the Dauphin Regional Health Centre will be a waiting game. But with Prairie Mountain Health's news release, it at least shows they're working to restore the basics to Dauphin.
