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Regina's city council covered a lot of ground in a three-hour meeting on Wednesday. With all members in attendance, coun...
By Tyler Marr
Mission accomplished.
Those were the words of former Prairie North Health Region CEO David Fan as politicians and health care workers gathered to mark the grand opening of the Saskatchewan Hospital North Battleford (SHNB).
The 284-bed facility replaced a century-old psychiatric care facility and two correctional centres.
The new SHNB includes 188 psychiatric rehabilitation beds and a separate secure wing with 96 beds for offenders living with mental health issues. The $407-million price tag is the largest investment in mental health treatment in the province’s history, according to Premier Scott Moe. He called the SHNB a tremendous step forward in advancing mental health care in Saskatchewan.
“Not only is it a hospital, not only is it a place of treatment, but it is a home,” he said. “We have a much more adequate facility for people to feel at home when they are spending some time here receiving some treatment.”
While many herald the building as a beacon of progress and success in mental health care for Saskatchewan, the premier admits the need for investment is ever growing and will continue.
With a promised balanced provincial budget set to come down on March 20, Moe didn’t want to preclude what could be among the balance sheet for health care funding, but maintained it is a priority for the government, be it in physical infrastructure or staffing.
“Today we are seeing both. An investment and a new delivery model of care as well as a tremendous investment in infrastructure and as we move forward we need to continue to invest, not only in infrastructure but investing in new and innovative ways,” Moe said.
Saskatchewan Health Authority COO Suann Laurent said the therapeutic treatment model practised at the SHNB makes the facility one of the most advanced in the country.
“With the intersectional partnerships and making sure we have access to not just putting people into jails with mental health and addictions but how do we actually help people get better and the well being and back to the cottages and being able to transition people out when they are ready to go,” she said.
Hospital director Linda Shynkaruk echoed this statement, adding the facility provides a more humane facility to treat patients in.
She said patients now have their own rooms and only have to share bathrooms with one other person as opposed to 20, among other improvements.
“Just having this home-like therapeutic environment speaks volumes to where we are at with mental health,” she said. “It is about being human and expecting for us to give the patients what you and I would expect for ourselves or our family members if they were in care.”
Shynkaruk admitted the facility is overdue, saying a new building would have been welcomed years ago but said they “are happy to have it now.”
The transition from the 100-year-old facility was completed in three stages. It started on Nov. 3 and wrapped up on Nov. 17. There are over 130 patients currently housed at the SHNB, with dozens on referral lists and being brought in strategically to ensure everyone is safe and settled in prior to treatment, Shynkaruk said.