The DRHC will most likely be out of commission for a while. Without a working hospital in the region, lots of people in Dauphin and the surrounding area are understandably concerned.
Treena Slate, Prairie Mountain Health CEO, said they're still assessing lots of the damages.
"[We are] looking at assessing the damage that was done by not only the high volume of water that entered our basement and crawl spaces at the Dauphin Regional Health Centre, it was about 8 feet at it's worst, but also a large amount of silt that entered the building," said Slate.
One of the main causes of the closure was extensive damage to the hospital's HVAC and electrical systems, which were located in the basement. In the meantime, with the hospital closed, PMH has transferred all 54 patients that were at the DRHC to different healthcare facilities across the province.
"We did move the majority of patients to other sites in Prairie Mountain, but we also moved patients into Winnipeg, about 5 patients I believe were moved into Winnipeg, and some to Southern Health as well," said Slate.
While the DRHC remains closed for damage assessments and repairs, a temporary clinic has been set up in the Community Health Services building, attached to the hospital. Prairie Mountain Health has also greatly expanded the capabilities of the Ste. Rose Emergency Department using some DRHC personnel and resources.
"There is a room that we have occupied, that we have set up I believe 6 beds in total, where we have nursing staff on site able to do a quick assessment of anybody who arrives...we did establish resources and services in Ste. Rose, so we increased Ste. Rose Emergency Department to 24 by 7, which is a 50% increase from it's usual service, with the support of Dauphin physicians and nursing staff," said Slate.
Slate said she understands the concern from the community around not having close access to a healthcare facility as big as the DRHC. It's been here for a long time, so living without the hospital in our backyard will take some getting used to.
In the meantime, PMH is looking at a lot of ways they can help ease Dauphin's concerns, including greatly expanding the healthcare services PMH still has active in Dauphin, and speaking with provincial partners about solutions they can provide.
"We don't have our hospital temporarily, and so we are looking at, not only as a region but as a provincial system, around what can we do within Dauphin and the community, and so we are looking at what kind of diagnostic services like labs can we offer in the community, and we are also working to increase the community-based resources and services we have in Dauphin," said Slate.
When it comes to timelines for repairs and getting the DRHC back to normal, that will depend entirely on what their assessments find. Slate was unable to provide any estimate as to when the DRHC will reopen, because there are still a lot of unknowns. However, PMH does know what they need to look at in the immediate future, and will look to restore the basics, specifically an emergency room and diagnostic services, as soon as they can.
"If the analysis shows us that we're going to have excessive, lots of lead times to get equipment to replace what was damaged, or we can't repair what was damaged very quickly, what can we establish as a minimum...and then what can we add after that, we recognize that we want hemodialysis patients to be treated as close to home as possible, cancer care patients treated close to home as possible, all of our patients of course brought back close to home, and so it will be probably a phased approach as we go through this," said Slate.
Though the DRHC will likely be closed for a while, PMH is looking at all possible ways to expand healthcare in Dauphin, and already bolstering their capability in nearby areas. While the DRHC is closed, emergency services are available at the Ste. Rose Emergency Department 24/7, and the Grandview Medical Clinic, 7 days as week.
