$100M announced for Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre

Years of advocating for the expansion of space and services at the Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre has finally paid off. 

On Wednesday, Feb. 26th, Premier Jason Kenney announced the first phase of a $100 million dollar funding commitment to support that expansion, with a $5 million dollar investment being put forth for the 2020/2021 fiscal year. 

Premier Kenney acknowledged the rapid growth of the central zone populations and said this first phase of funding will lay the foundation for future upgrades and expansion. 

"You all know that this Hospital is one of the busiest hospitals in the province. You also know that it's the care centre in the Central Region with a full spectrum of surgical specialties, advanced diagnostics and critical and emergency care," he said. 

"The pressure is only going to increase because the population in Red Deer is forecast to grow over the next couple of decades. Both patients and medical staff deserve better. They need a world-class facility that delivers world-class care and results and reflects the demands that will be placed on this hospital in the future. 

He said the $100 million commitment has been authorized in the Province's Capital Plan. 

The first phase of the expansion will include consultation from Red Deer and other central Alberta residents to hear what services they have at the top of their list of priorities. 

"That consultation, planning and pre-construction work - some of which has been underway - will be funded by a $5 million committment this year, the fiscal year of 2020/2021. "

Kenney said he's given instruction to the departments of Health and Infrastructure to "move forward as much of that $100 million dollars to be spent as quickly as possible to get construction underway."

"I can confirm that the bottom line is that construction work will begin on the expansion and refurbishment of the red deer hospital next year, in 2021," he said. 

Janice Stewart, Chief Zone Officers for the Alberta Health Services Central Zone, said the funding will support the physical expansion of the hospital, but health services in the community at large to support that expansion. 

"Red Deer Regional Hospital has experienced significant growth in patient acuity and in its role as the regional referral centres. We know that growth for acute care services at the hospital is necessary and planning to date for the re-development of the site has identified a number of key, very important things that need to be done," Stewart said.  

She identified some of those major concerns as increasing in-patient beds, increasing operating rooms, expanding the cardiac program, enhancing diagnostic imaging capacities and the expansion of ambulatory care services. 

"Of course the physical expansion of the hospital is one piece of a much larger puzzle. Community-based care also needs to be enhance to reduce the need for hospitalization and to provide support for patients after they are discharged. we need to ensure we're working in the community that addresses risk factors of injury and illness, particularly heart attacks, which we see in the central zone."

Red Deer Mayor Tara Veer said, "This has been a long-standing, identified critical need for the people of Red Deer and central Alberta. Our community, for many, many, many years, has been united and steadfast in our position that the Redd Deer Regional Hospital Centre was in desperate need of infrastructure, expansion, and improvements."

"We are so incredibly pleased that the people of central Alberta have been heard, and that the government is responding to what has been a long-standing need. We needed to see some positive movement on this file."