MELFORT — The City of Melfort placed second in the Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association’s awards for the work done to complete the Wellness Centre.
The municipal awards recognize innovation and excellence in local Saskatchewan governments. Melfort is one of the four winners, out of 18 nominations submitted on behalf of 35 municipalities. It will be given at the association's annual convention in February 2019 at Saskatoon.
“The City of Melfort is pleased to be recognized by the organization that represents municipalities across the province, for a unique, innovative project of regional operation in regards to the Wellness Centre,” said Brent Lutz, Melfort’s community development manager.
The Wellness Centre, which opened in December 2017, is a health facility attached to the Melfort Hospital. It provides commercial space for local physicians for their private practices.
“It has been a project that we have envisioned for almost 10 years,” Lutz said. “There was a lot of work that went on in the background determining how this project could benefit the community and what are some of the things that it could provide.”
That background work came in handy to get the project done in around a year when Avatex DevCorp offered a partnership with the city.
The community development manager said the city had a target of eight physicians in the building when it opened. It now has 13.
According to Lutz, the Wellness Centre plays an important part in the quality of life for Melfort.
“Quality of life is a very significant factor for communities and health is one of the primary concerns of citizens and so they require – they look for good health services and the Wellness Centre enhances our current health services and also will ensure that there is adequate services for the future to meet the needs of the community.”
He believes the facility stands out from other health clinics throughout the province due to the convenience of it to the hospital.
“One of the unique features of the clinic is it is attached to the hospital,” Lutz said. “For our physicians it has been – it has provided them the opportunity to be able to see their patients in their clinic without interruption, even when they may be called from time to time to the hospital to provide emergency services or to respond to patients that they have in the hospital.”
He believes the facility is convenient for the patients too.
“It has worked very well for our doctors, it has also worked well for our residents because now they can just visit their doctor and they can get their required labs or other tests that need to be done at the hospital all in one location. So it’s tremendously convenient.”
