Al Richmond will stay on as chair of the Cariboo Chilcotin Regional Hospital District (CCRHD) and Mary Sjostrom as vice-chair.
They were both acclaimed at the regular board meeting Friday, Jan. 12.
“I see it as an honour and privilege,” Richmond said, noting he is looking forward to working on all the projects that are presently underway or coming up in the future. “Thanks very much.”
Sjostrom acknowledged Richmond for bringing the present funding program to the CCRHD which means the province pays 60 per cent of projects and the CCHRD pays 40 per cent.
The exception has been for the Cariboo Memorial Hospital Upgrade where the CCHRD’s share is 30 per cent, which the board was able to negotiate with the province due to rising costs of the project.
During the meeting the board approved including $3,045,740 in the CCHRD 2024 financial plan to meet requests from Interior Health for capital funding.
There are several construction projects to be funded by the CCHRD at 40 per cent portion.
- Primary Care Network at South Cariboo Health Centre in 100 Mile House for team-based primary care services, $456,730
- Primary Care Project for improved patient access to primary care at a leased site in Williams Lake, $1,372,800.
Richmond told Black Press because that project is a ministry of health project, IH has not been able to provide the board with very much information about it.
“It will hopefully provide people with better access to family physicians to take some of the load off the hospital,” he said. “They have been working on that initiative for at least two or three years and opening them up in the communities with the most need.”
The CCRHD is providing increased funding to the primary care network that is already in 100 Mile House, prior to the announcement for one in Williams Lake.
“Primary care networks and access to primary care, if they can make it easier and have those centres, will make it better for people who don’t have access to doctors and nurses to have a better opportunity to see some.”
He said the networks also provide for the newer expectations of medical professionals in today’s climate who don’t necessarily want do deal with the business aspects of running a practice.
Richmond said rural divisions of family practice and the dean’s advisory council of health at the University of British Columbia have made several recommendations to the ministry.
“Access to primary care is a real win if we can do it.”
Other projects include:
- Pharmacy upgrades at One Hundred Mile District General Hospital, $80,000
- Fire system at South Cariboo Health Centre in 100 Mile House, $492,000.
- Planning for community consolidation of community programs located in Cariboo Memorial Hospital and leased sites in Williams Lake area, $200,000
- Replacement of the direct exchange unit at Mill Site Lodge in 100 Mile House, $34,000
- Staff housing update at Cariboo Memorial Hospital in Williams Lake that has not been renovated in more than 30 years and is in a state of disrepair, $33,800
- Condensing unit replacement at Deni House in the HVAC system as the current unit is failing, $26,000
- IH-wide IMIT happening across all seven regional hospital districts, $251,700
- Controlled substance manager distribution system for 100 Mile House District General Hospital, $38,800
- Steam sterilizer for Cariboo Memorial Hospital to replace the existing 2005 unit, $149,490
The financial bylaw for this budget will be presented to the board on Feb. 9, 2024 for three readings and final adoption at its regular meeting.
Mayor Surinderpal Rathor asked when payments for projects are made and heard it depends on the project.
Some are paid upon completion while bigger projects, such as the CMH redevelopment, are paid in installments.
For example, the January monthly payment was just about $1.4 million.
“The ministry’s share is $3.2 million a month,” he said. “That’s the kind of money that’s been spent every month to do the Cariboo Memorial Hospital project.”
