Mobile clinic opens in Dauphin day after more than 50 evacuated from hospital

It’s unclear how long health-care services will be disrupted at Dauphin’s hospital — a medical hub for western Manitoba — after the facility’s basement flooded following this week’s heavy rains.

Dauphin Regional Health Centre was evacuated Wednesday and its emergency department is closed after the site lost power and the use of its heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system.

Officials said 54 patients — all adults except for one infant — were moved to different hospitals, including Brandon Regional Health Centre.

All surgeries and endoscopy procedures were cancelled for seven days from Wednesday. All X-ray, ultrasound, CT, MRI and lab appointments have been cancelled until further notice.

Cancer, dialysis and maternity patients will be contacted directly with instructions or more information about how to continue treatments or receive care.

A mobile medical clinic and a temporary triage clinic were up and running Thursday to provide some services or assessments to patients. Visitors with serious needs that cannot be treated in Dauphin will be directed to the nearest appropriate hospital.

Dauphin residents were told to continue to call 911 for emergencies. For urgent care needs, they were told to go to the emergency department at Ste. Rose du Lac’s hospital, about a 30-minute drive to the east of Dauphin.

People with non-urgent needs should call Health Links at 1-888-315-9257.

“Everyone’s No. 1-priority is patient safety and well-being, and making sure the continuity of care is consistent and clear for patients and their families,” Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara told reporters.

Asagwara said the evacuation was complex, involving a range of health-care staff, including paramedics, nurses, physicians and allied health workers.

“It is an incredible example of what our health-care system and our teams do every single day, but especially in these moments of crisis and in emergencies,” they said.

Treena Slate, chief executive officer of Prairie Mountain Health, said officials will have a better idea in the coming days regarding a potential timeline for the restoration of services.

Water has to be pumped out of the basement before power can be restored. Repairs will be necessary in the basement.

Slate said the health region is speaking to its insurer and a restoration company about an eventual damage assessment.

Computer network access was also knocked out, she said.

Asagwara said it is a “very live situation” because there are concerns about additional rainfall.

The minister said a review will take place to find out if the hospital can be better prepared if a similar situation happens again.

Slate said she couldn’t speak to whether it is unusual for a hospital’s main power connection point to be located in a basement.

Kristen Peleshok, director of health services at Prairie Mountain Health, said the temporary triage clinic can handle about four patients at a time.

“We needed to keep something open here in Dauphin due to the size of the population, due to the size of the catchment area,” Peleshok said.

The City of Dauphin and the surrounding Rural Municipality of Dauphin are among the communities to declare states of local emergency due to significant flooding in the Parkland region.

As water levels receded Thursday, Dauphin Mayor David Bosiak said the city’s greatest concern was the health centre’s status and when normal operations could resume.

“That’s concerning to us both from an emergent standpoint for the community, but in a broader context for the region. We’re a regional health centre,” he said.

— with files from Mike Deal

chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca