By Cam Lee

Melfort mayor impressed with Wellness Centre’s first year

Dec 4, 2018 | 4:00 PM

Melfort’s Wellness Centre is even more successful that hoped, according to mayor Rick Lang.

The facility, which is attached to the Melfort Hospital, celebrated its grand opening one year ago.

“I think it’s worked out better than any of us planned,” Lang said. “My talking with the doctors is that it’s worked out better than they ever expected. The synergies that have been created, the idea that they can communicate with each other when they need to because they’re all in the same place, is better than any of us envisioned.”

Lang said the facility has also been a plus when it comes to physician retention and recruitment.

“There (are) some potential new doctors that are coming in the near future, and the amount of doctors that are in there now is an increase from when it was first built,” Lang said.

Weekend hockey

PAGC set to host largest Senator's Cup tournament to date

4h ago

Riderville

Riders Have Options Heading into Tuesday CFL Draft

7h ago

Firearms motion

Carrot River Valley MLA's motion on firearms owners' rights passes unanimously

7h ago

Lang said doctors told him the centre has changed their practice immensely.

“Where before we were cancelling appointments because we had to take a trip to the hospital to deal with something there, and we didn’t know the ramifications of what was going to happen once we got there, so we would cancel appointments and reschedule, now we’re not having to do that anymore,” Lang said, adding that doctors can now just walk down the hall to the hospital to see how imminent a situation is before they make any decision to cancel an appointment.

Sixteen various stakeholders helped make the Wellness Centre a reality.

“Avatex (Development Corp.), who did a great job in constructing (the facility), the former Kelsey Trail Health Region who allowed the facility to be built on hospital lands, the doctors themselves who made a huge contribution from a financial standpoint, and all of the (13 surrounding) R.M.’s for their financial contributions, you can’t ignore that,” Lang said.

He hoped those stakeholders are on hand as the city accepts a Saskatchewan Municipal Award for the Melfort Wellness Centre at the annual SUMA convention in February.