The Grande Prairie Regional Hospital Foundation presented an update for City Council during their Monday meeting.
The presentation included successes, areas of improvement, and needs that the hospital has prioritized going into 2024.
The foundation recently wrapped up a fundraising campaign for the hospital, and Grande Prairie Mayor Jackie Clayton says the foundation has done an “excellent” job of utilizing local dollars raised during the campaign.
“To hear the equipment that they bought with dollars raised locally is something that makes people proud in our council,” she says.
One of the areas in need of additional support identified by the foundation is the hospital’s lack of cardiac care support. Currently, Grande Prairie residents who require cardiac care have to travel to Edmonton or sometimes further to receive treatment, and Mayor Clayton says this is a problem council has been considering for some time.
“There’s been conversations and council has heard regularly about the needs for cardiac support and facilities in that regional hospital,” she says. “Right now if you were to go get a stint in one of your arteries, we can’t do that in Grande Prairie and a facility of that magnitude makes sense to have those assets in there, so residents aren’t having to go five hours to get cardiac support.”
According to the Mayor, the population served by the regional hospital is too large to not consider having cardiac care options in the facility, and as a result, council opted to prioritize cardiac care needs in the future.
“That facility was built by the provincial government with the knowledge that it would serve an entire region and not just the city, county, and the MD,” she says. “There are expectations that people from High Level and BC use that facility so it truly is regional.”
Council heard the foundation and voted unanimously to receive the foundation’s report for information.
