ATHABASCA – Challenging. Optimistic. Rewarding.
Those are the words Village of Boyle Mayor Colin Derko used to describe 2023, a year which saw the community rally together after a 2022 hospital closure was repeatedly extended.
“I don’t know how to get that warm fuzzy feeling from the community across, just the way the whole community has wrapped themselves around getting this problem solved,” said Derko during a Dec. 22 interview. “It’s just been overwhelming.”
Of course, the hospital isn’t everything in Boyle. This year saw the Chamber of Commerce successfully return, with a June 17 trade show heralded as a “massive success.” The village also tackled some long-term sustainability challenges, including asset management, and focused on reinvigorating recreation in the community.
“Our recreation department has been strong and looking great. There’s lots of stuff coming up there when it comes to upgrading playgrounds, the arena, and the community centre. It’s all coming together nicely,” said Derko.
At the centre of everything Derko touched on was community; the village has rallied together in the face of adversity. Whether they’ve been tackling the nursing shortage or a recently announced bank closure, Derko said community leaders, administrators and councillors have all stepped up to the plate.
“We’ve got community members that have stepped up to make our international nurses and new medical staff coming in feel welcomed, we’ve got our administration giving rides to get around town or to get to work,” said Derko. “The community has been great, Doris Splane has been working around the clock, all of council. (Village CAO) Warren Griffin has organized our public works staff to come pick up one of the IEN’s in the morning if they need a ride to work. It’s been neat to watch.”
The community gathered at the Boyle Community Centre Feb. 8 to hear officials from AHS talk about their plans for reopening the Boyle Healthcare Centre 24/7. At the time, AHS said they were aiming for a mid-summer reopening, but the International Educated Nurses (IEN) took a little longer to arrive than intended.
“We’ve been battling this for over a year and a half now, and while we’ve been moving in the right direction all along, we’re finally starting to see some results,” said Derko. “We’ve got one IEN in the community … We’ve got a new doctor coming into town for the beginning of the year. Things are finally started to look up.”
Another focus for Boyle’s council has been modernization. As Derko said, “times are changing,” and he thinks it’s important that the village changes with them. One example of this is Boyle’s natural gas infrastructure. The village has been supplying the resource for its residents since 1957, but the system needs roughly $9.5 million in updates. While council can’t foot that bill, they’re hoping a company like Apex Utilities can.
With the village's population aging alongside some of its infrastructure, Derko said council is looking to make sure no one gets left behind, so to speak.
“We want to step outside the box perhaps and offer some support to that part of our community. Our aging population is extremely important to us, and it is a concern,” said Derko. “We don’t want to be stuck in the past, but we don’t want to forget about the people that brought you here. Our seniors are very important to this community, they’re the ones that built this community, and we’ll be doing anything we can do to make sure that these transitions are as easy as possible.”
