Construction crews have been busy over the summer months at the site of southwest Saskatchewan’s newest integrated health care facility. Progress is moving forward on the new Southwest Integrated Healthcare Facility with significant steps forward being made both inside and outside the building.

With a project of this size, there are continually a variety of individual projects being worked on at the same time. Efforts by the construction crews are focusing on the sloped metal roofing on the long term care wings, continuation of drywall installation in the kitchen/town hall areas and long term care wings, painting of walls and door frames, and flooring installation in acute/long term care/universal care unit rooms. In addition, ongoing focus is being directed towards the electrical feeds and distribution, work within the mechanical room area, installation of floor heating lines and panels in long term care, exterior parking light standard installation, and installation of doors in the facility.

The overall project timeline has arrived at a point where additional efforts can be placed on the exterior landscaping and parking lot areas. Aside from the rough grading in the landscaped areas, there will be a dedicated group of community individuals who will be playing a significant role in planning what features the interior courtyard will have.

“We are very fortunate to have a local interest group who has volunteered to plan and landscape the interior courtyard of the facility,” said Kim Swanson, Health Services Manager for Maple Creek. “We appreciate the group’s efforts and we already know that the end result is going to be a wonderful spot for our residents, their families, and visitors to enjoy.” The group will be putting their design plans into action in the spring of 2015.

The list of equipment and furnishings for a new integrated health care facility of this size is a massive one, and the procurement of these items was initiated some time ago. Items have been arriving over the past while and will be ready to install when the time arrives.

“The Town of Maple Creek has been a terrific partner through the entire process of moving this facility through the various phases and we have appreciated their ongoing assistance,” commented Trent Regier, Director of Rural Health. “We have been able to store the shipments of equipment and furnishings within the Town’s storage facility and having quick access to them will save a large amount of time and effort when it is ready to install.”

The health region encourages regular visits to their website at cypress.saskhealthauthority.ca to view the ongoing progress of the new facility’s construction, and to view the on-site camera feed that provides real-time images (new photo taken every 15 minutes) of the construction site.