BOYLE — Village of Boyle mayor Colin Derko is losing sleep.
While other municipalities are celebrating a year well done, and Boyle does have many things to cheer about, it is the constant woes of the Boyle Healthcare Centre that keep the typically optimistic businessman up at night.
“My biggest concern, and the reason I lose sleep at night, is this hospital,” Derko said in a Dec. 28 interview. "Not a day goes by where I don't – I mean, honestly, I think even on Christmas Day I had text messages and e-mails regarding the hospital. It's a huge concern of our community and even the surrounding communities.”
He noted there have been several obstacles that hindered progress with lobbying to ensure the hospital stays open — like the UCP leadership race, but even the good news which took place in Boyle in 2022 is dampened by the hospital.
“Getting streets and sidewalks and lights and the new water lines and stuff downtown was a huge project for us,” he said. "In the last, well, six months, everything's been overshadowed by our hospital situation.”
The highlights are the major infrastructure projects, there was a New Year’s Eve party, a few new businesses opened, and Derko remains optimistic in the day-to-day operations of the village with CAO Warren Griffin at the helm, and there are other projects being completed by various community groups.
“Things have been good as far as our public works and administration and council is all working really well together,” said Derko.
The past year also saw strengthened ties between the Town of Athabasca, Athabasca County, and the Village of Boyle.
“It's been exciting having the three municipalities working so well together. We've been working on the AU (Athabasca University) file and working together on a bunch of different smaller projects, but the AU file has been huge,” he said.
Derko said he is happy to see local youth are back to playing sports without restrictions and about how active Boyle School is.
“Communities revolve around young families and our schools and our sports so, it's nice to see all these young families with kids in our school and seeing an increase in the numbers in the smaller grades and stuff,” he said. “That's exciting because there's our future. So, that's been really positive.”
Boyle has some new businesses like Earth to Embers, the first cannabis dispensary in the village.
“Green Leaf (Fuels) has increased the size of their staff; they took over another fuel company, so they've increased a lot,” he said. "(Co-owner Rod Veremy) has got more people moving into town because he’s got people working.”
But even as he mentions the new skate park being opened, Derko swings back to the healthcare centre, concerned the longer it goes on the less the facility will appeal to physicians.
“We find ourselves competing with other communities that have their hospitals running and once they go to these other communities, it's tough to ever get them back,” he said. “Some of these locums have been coming here for a long time and because they come here so frequently, they end up being people's doctors. People will wait for them when they're coming back because they know in advance when they're coming.”
Currently the problem is nurses, and with no nurses the emergency room is closed overnight, and with no emergency room, a doctor filling in on a locum won’t make much money.
“We’ve got some meetings coming up with (Health Minister Jason) Copping,” said Derko.
And the three municipalities have banded together to help lobby for the Boyle Healthcare Centre just as they did with Athabasca University – something which turned the tide when the government saw a united region lobbying about the university.
He wants to end on a high note though.
"They got the skate park built and they're working on a playground initiative now ... the curling club is doing really well, minor hockey is having a great season, the arena is in great shape; better than it's been for a long time. We put in some upgrades and got some extra people working and so that's really good,” he said. “We've got the new childcare centre, the daycare, in town, so that's been really helping out; we're excited about them.”
The restaurant on main street has opened back up as well, and Derko is noticing more people shopping and just generally out.
"Main street is busy all the time and we've got lots of functions going on,” said Derko. "The community centre's been getting used a lot more now for dances and social gatherings so that's been exciting to see.”
And he’s optimistic about Boyle’s future.
“If the economy continues the way it's going, Boyle is situated in a position where we've got the rail coming through town. We've got a couple of major highways. We're basically right in the heart of … the north and northeast,” he said. "We're situated in a good spot where I think as industry continues to grow, we will by default, see some growth in our community over time.
“Mind you, I'm an eternal optimist. My glass is always half full, but it's good though. I just feel better being optimistic than a pessimist and it’s easier to get up in the morning.”
