Valley municipalities rally to secure health services in area
Jesse Melle, Rosthern’s newest medical doctor, makes use of the accommodations for medical personnel, that has been installed in the Rosthern Post Office building.
By Rod Andrews
The top floor of the Rosthern Post Office building has been renovated to provide accommodation for medical caregivers who work at the Rosthern Hospital.
Support for the venture has come from a number of rural and urban municipal governments in the area, says Councillor Don Greve, chairman of a Town of Rosthern committee that has succeeded in uniting municipalities in trying to retain quality medical services in the rural area.
The project started last year when Linda Baker and Denny Bishop, representing the physicians of the Rosthern Medical Clinic, along with Robert Hogel, manager of the hospital, told Rosthern Town Council that lack of a place to stay in town is not helping attract physicians to the community.
It was pointed out that other healthcare workers, especially those who do not live in town, who have to be on call, need a place to stay when they are not on duty.
Council formed a committee to look into the matter, including talking to other municipalities to see if they would financially support Rosthern’s project, as all town and rural residents would be impacted if healthcare was reduced at the hospital and medical clinic.
Over the past few months, Rosthern Town Council has heard reports of the success the committee was having, that has resulted in the work in the post office being completed and medical workers now staying in the facility.
“Municipal governments forming the Twin Rivers Association have come together to collaboratively upgrade the top floor of the post office for the purpose of accommodating medical students, nursing students, physiotherapy and lab/X-ray students who rotate through the hospital and medical clinic as part of their rural education experiences.
“This residence will also serve to accommodate out-of-town physicians and hospital staff to stay in town if they are called upon to take a weekend of being on call,” said Greve, who is a retired medical doctor.
He pointed out that efforts to provide continued quality medical care have been supported by the rural municipalities of Duck Lake, Laird and Rosthern, as well as Duck Lake, Waldheim, Hague and Hepburn and it is expected that Laird may participate in the future.
“As many small towns strategize to recruit and retain physicians, it is encouraging to see the leadership of these municipalities working collaboratively in the interests of their citizens,” said Greve.
Around $50,000 went into renovating the project, plus additional funds for furnishings.
The space was living quarters in the past, both when the federal government owned the building and more recently, when the town purchased the building from Public Works Canada in the 1990s.
The living space is now in use and has come at a time when the Rosthern medical community has seen one of its longtime medical doctors relocating to Saskatoon.
