Photo by Heather Kipling.
A second operating room has opened in the Rocky Mountain House Health Centre.
The additional operating room was possible through the dedication and donations of residents.
Jessica Moncrieff, site manager, explained that a second operating room benefits patients in the Rocky Mountain House and Clearwater County areas.
“Having two operating rooms is a big win for the site and for our area. Many patients can receive care closer to home without having to travel or be away from family. Surgical wait times will be reduced,” said Moncrieff. “Should there be an emergency C-section, we have the space to accommodate it while other procedures are taking place.”
The new space has also enabled an expansion of services to include knee-replacement surgery.
Dr. Bryce Henderson of Red Deer is one of the surgeons who travel to Rocky Mountain House to perform the surgery.
Henderson explained that scheduled procedures in a smaller community are free from interruptions surgeons can encounter while in larger centres, where emergency and trauma cases can impact operating room availability.
“It’s been a long time coming and is a necessary use of resources to help address wait lists,” said Henderson.
He added that a successful program will also help to attract and retain health professionals to the community.
“There are people who want to be an operating room nurse, but don’t want to go to Red Deer or somewhere bigger," said Henderson. “They’ll start approaching Rocky, and with a good environment and good people, the program grows itself.”
A $10 million investment for the operating room was first announced by the provincial government in 2021.
The funding was originally allocated for a space for minor surgical procedures but was upgraded to an operating room after lobbying and fundraising efforts by the Rocky Health Foundation.
The foundation launched a fundraising campaign, pledging to raise up to $750,000 to purchase equipment for the operating room.
Shirley Hope, Foundation Chair and former facility site lead said the support from donors surpassed expectations.
“We’ve had incredible support from the community,” Hope said. “We put out the request in November to create awareness about what we were up to, and within about three weeks we raised $750,000.”
The foundation continues to fundraise to meet additional equipment requests forwarded by the operating room team.
“It’s a bit like moving into a new house, there are things you don’t know that you’re going to need or things you’ve forgotten, so we continued to fundraise to support purchasing new equipment,” Hope said.
**With information provided by Alberta Health Services.