Rotary Club of Melfort had a special guest at their regular meeting on Tuesday, November 19. Former Melfort MLA Rod Gantefoer addressed the club on behalf of the Municipal Health Advisory Committee to address the construction of a heliport at the Melfort Hospital.

After leaving politics Gantefoer worked with STARS and continues to but appeared on behalf of the Health Advisory Committee. The goal of the committee is to make Melfort the location of the Centre for Rural Health Excellence.

“We want to just make a dynamic healthcare service for the northeast, not just for Melfort but for the whole corner. We can do these things and there will be people coming from Nipawin and Tisdale and Hudson Bay and whatever. It won’t just be us using it,” Gantefoer said.

He explained that the committee wants to improve for people who may have to travel two days to receive service.

“That committee is moving forward with projects as well right now. The whole project is this wellness thing. It started with the building of the doctor’s offices but it is all a part of,” Gantefoer said.

The heliport is the second project for the committee and the construction of the heliport is critical to the committee vision to improve the delivery of rural health services to the northeast.

“Well it sort of completes the chain if you like. I started bringing STARS to Saskatchewan a decade or so ago in 2011. And I believe in the program, I know what it can do and one of the gentlemen here was carried by STARS,” Gantefoer said.

“You know they have carried over 4,000 people in Saskatchewan since we started. It’s a wonderful thing and when you think of it there is someone that is carried by STARS whose life is probably saved,” he added.

By having the heliport the time to transport to Saskatoon will be cut nearly in half.

“Instead of landing out at the airport they land right at the hospital. It shaves time, you know like 30 to 35 minutes away when a helicopter leaves a helipad in Melfort until it gets to the helipad in Saskatoon, I mean that’s incredible,” Gantefoer said.

The heliport is the second component according to Gantefoer who explained that getting the CT scan to the Melfort Hospital is the initial component.

“We have been pursuing the CT scan for over a decade and it is still on our table we are not giving it up. Hopefully we can get something before the next election. The CT Scan is in the mall now provided by a private company,” Gantefoer said.

There is additional work to be done that can be done through gifts-in-kind. Gantefoer explained that there are trees to be removed and the land needs to be raised to the height of the hospital.

“George Sterner has indicated he is interested in providing us with that. There is cement that needs to be purchased, we need rebar, and we need fencing. You know if we can get those things provided as gifts in kind it cuts off the money we have to raise,” Gantefoer explained.

The city has recently begun the process to expropriate the land where the heliport will be located though they will not confirm this.

The project includes other vital health services and equipment. These include the CT scan, Bone Density Scan (DEXA), Mammogram, Echocardiogram, Tag Laser and the new incubator that is the current fundraising goal for the North Central Health Care Foundation (NCHCF).

“This is really the second thing, the CT scanner is first and we are still working on it. At the same time we are doing that we are working on the heliport program, we also have the Yag Laser, the Echocardiogram, those things all fit in, the Incubator for premature infants,” he explained.

The goal is to improve healthcare for the entire Northeast.

“We are working hard at it and we are going to try different things that we are going to do to raise the money and keep on going so we have better healthcare in the northeast going forward,” Gantefoer said.