The shovels might have been out to celebrate the start of a Wellness Centre in Melfort, but the true beginning of the project was at Stonegate.
“We originally wanted to do this concept there,” said Jesse Rudge, a partner with Avatex Devcorp Inc. “When we met with the doctors, they said they loved the concept, it was just the wrong location. They preferred it to be at the hospital.”
For that – a building housing all of the city’s doctors attached to the hospital – has been a dream of Melfort and its surrounding communities for years.
“The city had tried to do this in the past several times and so we said, ‘why don’t we take a look at it and see what we could do to make things work?’” Rudge said.
Avatex came up with something that everyone involved – the City of Melfort, surrounding municipalities, Melfort physicians and the Kelsey Trail Health Region – could agree with and on March 22, a sod-turning was held for the $6.5 million facility. It should open in October.
“This Wellness Centre will provide many benefits for the entire region and I’m excited that this vision is finally becoming a reality,” Rick Lang, Melfort’s mayor, said at the ceremony.
“Kelsey Trail Health Region was proud to work in collaboration with Melfort physicians, the City of Melfort and Avatex Devcorp on bringing this Wellness Centre to fruition,” said Shane Merriman, the health region’s CEO, adding Melfort will join other communities, like Tisdale, that have their doctor’s clinic attached to the hospital.
Avatex will pay for the facility and then lease space to the city, which will then lease it to the doctors.
Dr. Eben Strydom, who spoke on behalf of Melfort doctors, said he was ecstatic.
“It’s a project that’s really an example of a community getting together to optimize limited resources, in trying to put the patient first. It’s really a win-win situation for everybody involved.”
The facility, he said, will allow patients easier access to hospital services like the ER and diagnostic equipment, reduce travel times for doctors, especially if they are helping with surgeries and obstetrics, and make it easier for doctors to work as a team with items like dietitians, mental health and addiction services.
“In the end, this facility will help us to hopefully better recruit and retain physicians, which will help us with the quality of service, the continuity of service and, in the end, patient satisfaction.”
