Work continues to move along on the construction of a new hospital in Neepawa.
Work on the new health centre, which will be over four times the size of the current Neepawa hospital, began in November of 2022.
Debbie Poole is the Regional Lead of Clinical Planning for Prairie Mountain Health and says their goal is to have the exterior of the building completed by this fall.
"(We are going to) make sure it is water-tight. And then we are going to focus on the interior part of it. So there will be a little bit of paving that will take place this fall as well, but the main focus right now is to get that building envelope completely enclosed on the exterior, and then we are going to shift to the interior."
She adds they are still on target for Prairie Mountain Health to get the keys to the building by the summer of 2026.
"But I do have to say that there is a large element of staff orientation and training that will need to occur. So in terms of having the first patients in the hospital, those projected or anticipated dates will be late fall of 2026 or early winter of 2027. There is also going to be a phased-in opening, looking at opening services that they already provide today in Neepawa in the new hospital, and then we will get into the expanded areas that are being offered at the hospital."
Poole adds several services will be expanded in the new facility.
"The emergency department will be much larger, the surgery and diagnostic departments will also be much larger than what is current. But then there will also be new services, including an ambulatory care wing. And in that wing there will be renal services, so there will be nine hemodialysis stations there. Plus an ambulatory care wing for patients that are requiring outpatient treatments such an I-V therapy and dressing changes."
The new facility will also have 30 additional medical beds than what is in the current Neepawa hospital.
