Excitement building around construction of Portage Hospital

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Construction on Portage la Prairie’s hospitial is progressing and residents in the city are starting to see with their own eyes the $455 million project coming together, with an expected completion date of next fall.

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“Just from driving by, people are starting to recognize the skeleton of the building is up, and that a significant amount of the stonework has been done, so you’re really starting to see what the building is going to look like,” Tara Pettinger said on Monday. “From a community standpoint it’s very exciting.”

Pettinger is the executive director of the Portage District General Hospital Foundation (PDGHF) an organization that works to improve and enhance hospital services in the western Manitoba city, often by providing funding for equipment and projects that otherwise would not be funded by the local health region or Manitoba Health.

Pettinger said PDGHF continues to work closely with officials working to construct the brand new $455-million Portage Regional Health Centre which was first announced in 2021 by Manitoba’s previous PC government, and said the foundation has already contributed funding of $3 million towards the new hospital.

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Once completed, the approximately 270,000-square-foot facility will be home to 114 acute care beds, and replace an existing 159,000-square-foot 88 bed hospital that is more than 70 years old.

And while residents in Portage can see progress on the exterior of the building, Pettinger said there has also been “exciting” progress made on the inside of the building.

She added construction plans included a unique feature where one hospital room was constructed as quickly as possible, so that staff at all levels could tour the room, and make recommendations for what they would like to see when they are working in the new facility.

“There is now a completely finished room despite the fact that the majority of the facility is still under construction,” Pettinger said. “And it’s completely fitted, as if it’s ready for someone to come in and use.”

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Since construction on the room was completed, Pettinger said that more than a dozen officials representing different staff groups at the hospital have toured it and made recommendations “to make it as efficient as possible.”

“We’ve had representatives from rehab, to housekeeping, to nursing checking everything from outlets to patient boards, to where the thermostat and soap dispensers are located,” she said.

“What is really cool about this project is how much the staff can be involved and give input, so when everything is built there will be limited times where someone can say, ‘well why wasn’t it done this way?’”

Some who live in the area have expressed frustration that there are currently no plans for an MRI machine in the hospital, and as of this week, the NDP government has not changed its stance that they are not planning to bring an MRI to Portage.

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Pettinger said officials with PDGHF believe an MRI should be built in Portage, and the foundation pledged back in July that should the province change course, the foundation would put $5 million towards the construction of an MRI at the hospital.

“So as of today that offer still stands, and if a decision were made to put one in, the foundation would be there to help assist with that funding,” Pettinger said.

Plans for the facility also include increased day surgery capacity to allow for more procedures to be done locally, an expanded emergency department, new dialysis stations, child and adult rehabilitation services, mental health offices, and enhanced spaces for programs such as diagnostics, palliative care, and outpatient services.

Pettinger said officials continue to believe that the Portage Regional Health Centre will be fully operational sometime in the fall of 2025.

— Dave Baxter is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter who works out of the Winnipeg Sun. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.

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