Vacant land south of the parkade at the Grande Prairie Regional Hospital will be the future location of the Maskwa Medical Centre. Photo by Curtis Galbraith.

By Curtis Galbraith

Healthcare

Construction on new Maskwa Medical Centre expected to start this year

Apr 27, 2024 | 6:00 AM

After seven years of planning and preparation, construction on a new facility called the Maskwa Medical Centre is expected to start sometime in 2024.

It will be built on vacant land by the Grande Prairie Regional Hospital, across from the parkade.

The three story building will include medical training for new doctors, a place where people can go to access specialists and a daycare and restaurant for hospital staff.

Spokesman Ken Drysdale says the centre’s board can now continue to advocate for access to specialists.

“(Also) team-based stuff where we can diagnose critical medical cases here locally.”

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“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 (Adriana LaGrange) and the Alberta government to change how that delivery is done in rural communities.”

Drysdale says he is hoping people from all over the northwest will come to Grande Prairie to have difficult cases diagnosed, rather than travelling to Edmonton.

He adds patients coming to the centre would have access to a whole team of people.

“Our goals are that on the third floor of this medical centre that we’re building will be a group of medical specialists or general internists that can narrow down the issues to one area of the body and then, if they need some help, they can virtually call in and reach out to other specialists and sub-specialists for a second, third opinion.”

The training clinic for new doctors would be located on the ground floor.

Drysdale says having this clinic should mean less pressure for staff in the emergency department.

“Fifty-one per cent of the people who walk in emerg. now at the Grande Prairie Regional Hospital should be seen in a clinic and so, they’ll be able to direct them across the street and take a lot of pressure off staff at the emergency (department).”

There would be an in-house restaurant and daycare for hospital staff on the second floor. This would connect to the existing pedway. There would also be a pharmacy and a store selling medical supplies.

“If there’s something they need, whether it’s a brace or wraps or equipment, they can call over to this facility, whether it’s the doctor of their assistant and they can come over with a cart of supplies and sit with the family and make sure that things are understood, that they know how to set stuff, that they know how to keep it clean,” says Drysdale.

He adds they are still trying to raise more money for this project. The total cost is $35 million. Drysdale adds they are looking for 20-30 million dollars, some of which is in place.

The hope is to start construction in August or September this year, with a target completion time of mid-2026.

Drysdale says they are working on getting permitting done and finalizing engineering. They have also short-listed contractors. A request for bids will go out in early July.

The building would have a total of 100,000 square feet, counting an underground parkade.

Drysdale says the City and County of Grande Prairie and the MD of Greenview are helping pay for the $1.5 million cost for engineering design.