Major renovations will take place this fall at the Athabasca Healthcare Centre after a $650,000 investment from the Government of Alberta was received.
“Thanks to (Minister of Health and Wellness) Mr. Fred Horne, we have got $650,000 to renovate the hospital, which is going to give us a trauma room, and a secure room, which is something the physicians, healthcare providers and the healthcare advocates have been asking for,” said Jeff Johnson, MLA for Athabasca-Redwater and Minister of Infrastructure. “It’s exciting. They are going to start construction this fall, and will complete it next spring.”
Dr. Michael Burger said they currently only have one trauma room at the hospital.
“It’s a very small room with an acute setup,” he explained.
The current room can only hold one patient, which complicates matters when there is more than one trauma victim.
“We can handle one patient, and it’s very clumsy if you have three EMTs, a doctor and a few nurses,” he said. “I’ve had car accidents with a cardiac patient, fractures, and things that need to be dealt with in a critical care setting.”
The room is currently less than ideal.
“Often when you are there having to pour your heart out about your personal medical issues, all that is separating you from the guy that’s eight feet away is a curtain,” Burger said. “It’s a clumsy way of doing it, and that’s a main reason why we started lobbying for some change.”
The plan is to create a bigger trauma room with two beds.
“This means that proper triage can happen at the door,” he explained. “The new critical care room will have lots more room, and two critical care beds equipped with the most modern equipment that we could get our hands on.”
A security room will also be included.
“It is somewhere where we put patients who are psychotic, suicidal, intoxicated (or) on a drug high, and these things happen often in Athabasca,” he said. “The room will give us time to make a decision or to manage or get the patient into a facility where they can be taken care of.”
The security room will be padded so patients will not be able to harm themselves.
“It’s not a lockup; it’s an observation room,” Burger said. “It’ll be monitored with cameras from every which angle.”
Most facilities have a security room, and Athabasca is next on the list.
“Instead of locking and chaining them and sending them with the police to the Alberta Psychiatric Hospital, this gives us some time,” Burger explained. “You can consult, and find a way that is more appropriate to handle the situation.”
Mabel Dick, a member of the doctor recruitment committee, said the renovations are, “long over due.”
