It’s the elephant in the room – the emergency room, that is.
What happens if the private sector is simply unable to fundraise its portion of the tab for Flin Flon’s new ER?
While this appears to be a plausible scenario – up to $4.4 million, if not more, must be privately generated – the Manitoba government won’t give a firm answer to that question.
“We’re confident everyone will continue working together to achieve this goal, and it wouldn’t be appropriate to speculate at this point,” a provincial spokesperson told The Reminder.
The spokesperson said that in the 16 years the province has mandated private funding for health-care capital projects, fundraising has always come through with its share.
But that’s not to say it always will, particularly in the case of the new ER planned for the Flin Flon General Hospital.
Cultivate dollars
While a charitable foundation has been formed to cultivate dollars for the ER and other health projects, it will be working in the confines of northern Manitoba, the poorest, most sparsely populated region of the province.
Greg East, for one, isn’t so sure the foundation will be successful.
A lifelong area resident and occasional activist, East is dismayed that northerners are required to help fund a project whose final price tag is unknown.
“I think it’s putting the cart before the horse,” he said.
The foundation is tasked with raising up to 10 per cent of the ER cost in about a year or, failing that, up to 20 per cent over a decade.
That translates into $2.2 million or $4.4 million, but that’s only if the ER actually comes in at the $22 million originally projected.
If the ER ends up costing more, as East suspects it will, the foundation must generate even more cash.
Officials have conceded that the ER may come in higher or lower than $22 million, but the provincial spokesperson said no newer estimate is available.
The Northern Health Region says the current ER is not only too small, but also outdated and lacking in appropriate facilities for patients and staff.
But East says he hasn’t seen anything to convince him that the new ER as planned is needed.
Regardless, officials hope to see construction begin in mid-2015 and completed by late 2017.
Conceptual images of the new ER show an addition to the front of the hospital to house the new emergency department.
What’s most striking is its size. Whereas the existing ER is shy of 2,000 square feet, the new one will be seven times larger – about 14,000 square feet.
The hospital addition includes three separate entrances. The main entrance would move to the east side of the building, facing Church Street.
The ambulance drop-off would be at the front of the building, facing south. A separate ER entrance, for patients going to the ER without an ambulance, would face west.
The ER plan further calls for a reconfiguration of the hospital parking lot, including a vehicle entrance off of Church Street.
Houses now on the hospital property are to be demolished. The vehicle ramp on the front of the building, out of use for many years, is to be removed as well.
