After years in the making, the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) has announced the Victoria Hospital’s Maholtra Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) expansion will be set to open in the spring this year.
In 2018 the Victoria Hospital Foundation launched a $5-million campaign to build and equip a state of the art, level 2 NICU for sick babies born in the north.
The foundation announced that construction of the project was moving forward in November 2020 and construction wrapped up earlier this year.
“The project, aimed at an advancement to the model of neonatal care in Prince Albert, has seen some delays in equipment shipments, as well as the recruitment and training of staff. Our teams are working diligently to open the NICU, to care for our smallest and most vulnerable patients and their families,” said an SHA spokesperson in an email.
Sherry Buckler, CEO of the Victoria Hospital Foundation, said they’re funding 100 per cent of the NICU including equipment and furnishing. Currently, they’re $1,000,000 away from completing the equipment phase of the fundraising campaign.
“As a result, the SHA has committed to ordering all the equipment and as we raise the money, we will reimburse the SHA. And in that way that ensures the NICU will be able to open at full capacity with brand new equipment as soon as possible without delay,” Buckler told paNOW.
She added 90 per cent of the equipment is already in P.A., with the remaining pieces to arrive shortly. Getting brand new equipment she said was a high priority for the Foundation and the SHA as it guarantees the patients will get the highest level of care possible.
“This project was a labour of love by the community, and I think the community of Prince Albert and north should feel very proud about championing this and fundraising for it. Very soon our most fragile babies will be able to stay closer to home and be cared for in a state-of-the-art Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and it’s an absolute joy for our foundation to see this come together and we’re immensely grateful to the community for making it happen.”
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Ian.Gustafson@pattisonmedia.com
On Twitter: @IanGustafson12
