An official announcement came from the provincial government today about the new La Crete community health facility.
The new facility with a birthing centre and midwifery-led program, will ensure moms with low-risk pregnancies can give birth closer to home.
The Province is spending $35 million over the next three years begin planning the new health facility.
Funding will support a birthing centre with a midwifery program, a new Emergency Medical Services response facility and more space to access mental and primary health care.
Alberta Health Services currently operates the La Crete Community Health Centre, where people have access to care for minor and non-life-threatening illnesses. But there is no room for Alberta Health Services (AHS) to expand in any of its local facilities. Pregnant women have to travel more than one hour to the High Level hospital – the Northwest Health Centre – for multiple ultrasounds and to give birth.
A bigger health facility will increase access to care for the 9,200 people who live in and around La Crete. The new health centre will offer:
– Ultrasounds to expectant mothers.
– Midwife services in a dedicated birthing centre for moms with low-risk pregnancies. Women with high-risk pregnancies and those who need C-sections will continue to give birth in High Level’s hospital.
– More space for prenatal classes and a dedicated lactation program to help mothers with breastfeeding.
– Additional space for family doctors and primary care teams. Right now, three family physicians work in the medical clinic attached to the health centre.
– Improved access to mental health services and therapists.
– A new, larger Emergency Medical Services response facility, with four ambulance bays and four single residential apartments for visiting clinical staff, including physician locums, nurses, interns and specialists.
– Space for physiotherapy and occupational therapy, currently offered in the continuing care facility.
– Telehealth and video conferencing consultation capabilities, so patients in La Crete can receive virtual care from specialists in High Level or elsewhere.
Alberta’s government, AHS and the College of Midwives of Alberta will work together to develop and grow a new care model to support midwives to deliver babies in low-risk pregnancies in La Crete. Currently, one midwife out of High Level provides pre- and post-natal care in La Crete but can only help deliver babies in the High Level hospital.
Functional planning for the new facility is underway to determine space requirements and locations of programs and services. Design is anticipated to begin in 2022. Final dates for construction are being determined, with the aim to complete the project in four to five years.
– Kyle Moore, Trending 55 Newsroom
