Health centre build delayed
Long-promised structure may not be complete until 2026 as new report extends lifespan of current building
April Hudson
Northern News Services
Thursday, March 30, 2017
LIIDLII KUE/FORT SIMPSON
Construction of a new health centre in Fort Simpson may not be finished until 2026, and will now be designed to include long-term care beds as well as mental health and family services.
Staff with the Department of Health and Social Services gave a presentation in Fort Simpson on March 27 about the village's prospective health centre. Dehcho Health and Social Services Authority associate chief operating officer Wilson Dimsdale, left, joined chief operating officer Georgina Veldhorst, infrastructure planning director Perry Heath, MLA Shane Thompson and public works and services director Mark Cronk. - April Hudson/NNSL photo
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The building project, which has already faced delays, is no longer considered a priority, according to Department of Health and Social Services infrastructure planning director Perry Heath.
Heath said the department has been reviewing Fort Simpson's current health centre each year since 2006, when a technical assessment originally showed the building to be "functional but aging" and the wooden piles used in the foundation were failing.
"This year, in the spring of 2016, we had another structural assessment where we had an engineer go in and say, you know what, this building is actually in pretty good shape," Heath said.
Concerns that the foundation may be crumbling were alleviated when the department discovered the original contractor, who built the health centre in 1972, overbuilt the centre's grade beams, which are long strips of concrete underneath the building.
That means the pile foundations, which were originally the cause for concern, are no longer structurally required to keep the building up.
"That building is effectively resting on those grade beams," Heath said.
The current lifespan of the building, Heath added, could be another 10 to 20 years.
With no pressing need to get a new health centre built, the department is returning to its feasibility stage on the project.
Projections from the department for long-term care needs in the Deh Cho region put the number of additional spaces required by 2026 at 30. Currently, there are 18 spaces.
Heath said the department plans to include more long-term care beds in the design for the future health centre, and also hopes to bring in mental health and family services, which are currently housed in the Stanley Isaiah Wellness Centre.
Nahendeh MLA Shane Thompson described the approach as a "holistic" one.
A combination of long-term care with a new health centre would also provide cost savings, as opposed to building one or the other.
"The thing everybody has to be aware of is there are a whole bunch of needs in the territory," Thompson said.
"They're trying to combine these two projects so cabinet can actually buy into it."
The territory originally announced its intention to build a new health centre in Fort Simpson in 2014, with construction to start as early as 2016.
However, the project was pushed back to the 2022-23 budget year in October 2015, a move which prompted then-MLA Kevin Menicoche to lobby the government to re-slate the project for an earlier date.
But Thompson said ministers likely wouldn't sign off on an earlier date since the project is no longer a priority.
"We can fight and argue . but chances of cabinet approval is slim and (the project) would still be pushed back," he said.
