Staff photo by Lizz Bottrell
The emergency entrance is one huge concern for residents. It is a distance from the treatment rooms and is not sheltered, making it very poorly located.

By Lizz Bottrell, Citizen Staff

A leaky roof, poor emergency access, and inefficient operations from consistent downsizing at the Kipling Hospital are some of the concerns area residents bring forth when stating why the community needs a new hospital.

Just to give anyone unaware of the issues an idea of how bad the situation is, Lorne Rygh, Secretary of the Health Foundation, listed off a few of the more obvious problems. “The flat roof is causing internal damage from leaking and repair of the roof is difficult without spending an unreasonable amount,” said Rygh. “Reduction of acute care bed numbers and closing of operating area has resulted in space being turned into storage. The out patient treatment rooms are awkward to work in and materials are poorly stored. Deteriorating windows, old heating system and inefficient use of space causes high operating costs. Scatter facilities throughout Kipling leads to other operational inefficiencies and access is compromised. For example, the care home is built for level one and two patients and now handles essentially level four, which is inadequate.”

“My whole thought is it is a death trap,” said Wayne Mogk, a concerned citizen. “As far as I’m concerned, the health board needs to look into getting us a new hospital. Some of the walls and ceilings are falling apart and they’ve got severe water problems. Every time it rains, it leaks through the roof and you have to put pails out.”

Although the hospital apparently resolved the problem with the leaky roof, many other issues within the hospital are beyond repair; therefore the best fix is for the government to fund a new one. However, in order for the government to even consider funding the construction of a new hospital, Kipling would need to come up with 35 percent of the estimated cost.

In 2002, the community started the Health Foundation in order to administer any donations received in the area. Response was so overwhelming that within four years, the foundation received enough money to submit a proposal to the government for a new hospital.

To this date, the government still has not budgeted to allocate funds to Kipling for a new hospital. However, they are in the works of determining which provincial health structures need help the most. “They are going to start tackling facilities that need the work,” said Don Toth, Moosomin MLA. “Each health region was asked to prioritize its facilities.”

Kipling Hospital sits second on Sun Country’s priority list after Redvers’ personal care home. The next task for the government is to look at each health region’s priorities and then prioritize all of them into one big list. However, it could be awhile before we know where Kipling sits on that final list. “The department has not finalized the priorities that have come in,” said Toth. After the caucus meets on June 17, Toth said he’d have a better idea of where Kipling stands in receiving funding for a new hospital.

As for now, all concerned residents can do is continue talking to their MLA’s to voice their issues regarding the condition of the hospital in hopes that the government will provide funding in the near future.