Biggar relieved to see ER reopen after nine-month closure

The mayor of Biggar says the community is thrilled that the local hospital’s 24-hour emergency services are up and running again, seven days a week.

“It’s just the greatest relief we could’ve ever imagined,” said Mayor Jim Rickwood.

The ER was shut down in January because there weren’t enough registered nurses available to keep it open. Seeing it reopened in early October — thanks in part to four new nurses arriving in the community — marked the end of a long nine months, Rickwood said.

“The whole closure created a great deal of anxiety for everybody,” Rickwood said, explaining the local economy is agricultural and industrial and the area is home to lots of seniors.
Losing out on local health care for an extended length of time was scary for the town, he said.

“It is just a relief for our community. It really is a godsend,” Rickwood said.

The recent recruitment of four nurses to the Biggar and District Health Centre was shared in Wednesday’s speech from the throne. The ER reopened earlier this month, on Oct. 2.

The town’s next step will be getting the local acute care beds reopened “very shortly,” the mayor said, though he noted the community is working on finding a long-term solution rather than a short-term fix for the problem.

“We learned a lot through it, and we’re stronger because of it,” Rickwood said.

During the community’s nine-month ER closure, Rickwood said city staff were meeting weekly with the Saskatchewan Health Authority. The mayor said he’s grateful to the health authority for its effective communication and the help in filling the vacant positions.

Biggar and the surrounding villages and rural municipalities have also got together to rent a five-bedroom home as an incentive for nurses to come and work in their area of the province. If nurses live in other towns, they’ll have the ability to stay in the home while they are in Biggar for their shifts.

Rickwood said a lot of good things are happening in Biggar, and the last thing any community wants is to lose crucial infrastructure like its hospital.