BRANDON — If all goes according to plan, there could be a new medical clinic built in Glenboro within a year and a half.
“It’s been in the works for quite a while and our goal is to have a successful fundraising drive this fall and be able to start construction of our clinic in the spring,” said Ron Jefferies, chair of the Spirit Sands Medical Clinic committee.
The current clinic is in the basement of the Glenboro Health Centre, which was built in the early 1950s. It also houses the area’s personal care home.
Jefferies said the clinic, expected to be 3,200 square feet, will be built on a vacant lot behind the hospital, to provide the two doctors and nurse practitioner a modern space to work.
“There are cement walls down there,” said Jefferies. “Some rooms have no windows; some rooms have a small window. It’s just not that kind of atmosphere for some new doctor that has many options on their table, who can go wherever they want to go. They’re going to go to a place that has a very nice new, modern workplace.
“So, it’s about providing a good atmosphere for the doctors to work in with bright light and new paint, modern ventilation, air conditioning, heating and technology, too,” Jefferies said.
The committee hopes to share its fundraising goal on Sept. 4 during a town hall meeting.
Dale Fisher, a councillor with the Municipality of Glenboro-South Cypress, said he hopes the community will rise to the occasion like it has in the past.
More than $100,000 was raised to pay recruiter Waterford Global to seek a physician for the hospital, clinic and personal care home.
“People came to the plate big time,” Fisher said, adding the recruiting process was a success.
“Hopefully it will be this new doctor from the U.K.,” Fisher said of the search. “We have a meeting with Waterford again (Tuesday) and they’re giving us an update. She wants to come; they were already here six weeks ago doing a tour. They flew here from the U.K. and they’re very interested in Glenboro.”
About six months ago, a new physician was hired by Prairie Mountain Health to work in the Glenboro hospital and clinic, alongside a locum and nurse practitioner.
Glenboro is 80 kilometres southeast of Brandon.
Having four medical professionals may also attract more people to move to their town, said Fisher, adding patients already come from the communities that are two to three hours away — Mariapolis, Swan Lake, Cartwright, Holland and Treherne.
“Glenboro’s a 55-plus community, and if we get back to four doctors, people will move and live here because nobody wants to go sit in Brandon for 12 hours to see a doctor in emergency,” Fisher said.
— Brandon Sun