After nearly seven years since the announcement of the project, the Maskwa Medical Centre has released a timeline for construction.
Maskwa Spokesman Ken Drysdale describes the moment as another milestone for the facility and the organization.
“Its a huge announcement, it really opens up the opportunity for our board to advocate for specialists,” he says.
The project’s inception comes from a place of need identified in Grande Prairie that has been a long-time concern for residents- access to critical healthcare at a local level. Drysdale says the establishment of the Maskwa Medical Centre could bridge the gap for patients in Grande Prairie who are sometimes forced to take time off from work, and spending money on transportation and accommodations in cities like Edmonton.
“We’ve got a ways to go on that yet, the province isn’t quite set up for that but we’re working with the current Minister of Health and the Alberta Government to change how that delivery is done,” he says. “Hopefully Grande Prairie can be a collector of difficult cases in the northwest and solve that instead of people travelling to Edmonton, everybody knows that early intervention saves money and lives.”
The three-floor, 100K square foot facility will house a teaching clinic on the ground floor, a restaurant, parkade, and an in-house pharmacy and medical supply store which Drysdale hopes will alleviate some of the pressure put on emergency staff at the Grande Prairie Regional Hospital.
“51 per cent of people that walk into the Emerge at Grande Prairie Regional Hospital should be seeing a clinic so they’ll be able to direct them across the street and take pressure off the staff,” he says. “When someone is released in the hospital or their loved ones are told they’re going to be released in the afternoon and there’s something they need whether it’s a brace or wraps or equipment, they can call over to the facility.”
As for construction, Drysdale says deadlines are rather tight as the facility hopes to be completed by 2026, meaning shovels need to be in the ground sometime in August/September of this year.
