Rainy River hospital gets its funding

Rainy River hospital will be getting an extra $350,000 it needs to run without going into a deficit after a series of meeting with Ministry of Health officials last Thursday.
Wayne Woods, CEO of Riverside Health Care Facilities Inc., said they’re “delighted” with the decision after spending the past several weeks convincing the ministry it had promised extra funding for the hospital’s 21 long-term care beds.
“I think it was just, first of all, negotiation, and secondly trying to get the issues clarified,” Woods noted.
Those “issues” needing clarification for the ministry included how many beds there were to be opened, where they were going to come from, and what the per diem funding was going to be.
Woods said his position at the negotiating table was simple.
“Exactly what I was after was the $350,000,” he remarked. “I didn’t care how we got there.”
“I guess we expected the ministry to live up to the commitment that had been made when the decision to do the construction was made,” noted Riverside chairman Pat Giles.
“I’m relieved they actually have put [the funding] in writing and we can start opening up the new facility,” he added.
Giles said the delay in receiving the extra funding caused some concern in the community.
Rainy River Mayor Gordon Armstrong, who has been working to get a new hospital built there for the 13 years he’s been in office, said the delay was more frustrating than anything else.
“People were saying, ‘Now what’s the problem, now what’s the hold-up?’” the mayor remarked. “It was the frustration of having it so close and yet there were a few more bridges to cross.
“It seems like it’s always a waiting game,” he added.
But both Giles and Mayor Armstrong were confident news of the funding would smother any negative feelings in the community.
“Once they hear everything is gung-ho, they’ll be happy to see their moms and dads get in there,” Mayor Armstrong said.
Meanwhile, patient transfer continues at the hospital at the rate of four a week. And by the time it holds its grand opening next month, all of the long-term beds should be full.
Woods said things should go pretty smoothly from here on in.
“I have to say, in the end, the Ministry of Health was pretty good,” he remarked. “We finally worked it out and everybody went away fairly happy.”