Rosetown hospital clinic officially opens after years of delays

By Ian MacKay

ROSETOWN – "It's been a number of years in the making," Jim Reiter admitted after the speeches at the official opening of the new clinic at the Rosetown hospital.

Local MLA Jim Reiter, the province’s finance minister, introduces Lori Carr, the remote and rural health minister, Mayor Trevor Hay and the Saskatchewan Health Authority’s Krista Barnett during the opening. Photo by Ian Mackay

The project, starting with revamping the entrance to improve access by eliminating a short staircase, was "put on hold" because of "concerns about design and how it was going to fit into the current structure, and cost escalations because of that," said Reiter, the Rosetown-Delisle MLA and provincial finance minister.

"That caused some delays," he said, adding that "lots of logistics to work out" included combining two clinics "into this one."

He received a request from the town to work on moving the clinics to the hospital during his term as provincial health minister, he indicated, and made sure leaders of the Rural Municipality of St. Andrews, which owned the building holding the town-operated clinic, were "on side."

"Sometimes projects like this take a while but it's good to see it come to fruition," Reiter said.