Residents of Lasqueti Island may have to wait a little longer for the completion of a community health centre.
Lasqueti Last Resort Society (LLRS) has been fundraising to build the centre since its inception in 2002. Last fall, work began at the Judith Fisher Centre, a facility that will house a health clinic and six elder cottages.
The centre has an estimated price tag of $200,000 and about $75,000 has been raised so far through community donations, but LLRS fundraiser Melinda Auerbach said the group is looking to Powell River Regional Hospital District (PRRHD) for help.
“We only need about $125,000 more to complete construction,” said Auerbach, “then we can have the nurse move in and start her weekly visits from the centre.”
The northern gulf island does not currently have any health care facilities and a nurse from Vancouver Island makes weekly visits every Thursday to see patients.
Though a part of Powell River Regional District, the island is connected to Vancouver Island by ferry.
Lasqueti residents have been paying into the region’s hospital fund for the past 30 years and have contributed over $1 million. Island residents have also supported the construction of Willingdon Creek Village.
“We contribute into the pot and everybody benefits,” said Powell River Regional District (PRRD) director Merrick Anderson.
Before PRRHD is able to pass a motion to contribute the $125,000, the Judith Fisher Centre needs provincial ministry of health designation as a health care facility, said Colin Palmer, PRRHD board chair.
Palmer said the board had requested PRRD staff to draft a letter to Vancouver Island Health Authority to ask the ministry of health to have the health centre designated as a health facility under Section 49 of the Hospital District Act.
Plans for the 2,500-square-foot facility include space for medical practitioners to see patients, a nursing station, meeting room and a respite room so island residents who have undergone surgery on Vancouver Island can return to Lasqueti to recover.
The elder cottages, each about 600 square feet in size, will provide senior residents who are not able to stay in their homes any longer the opportunity to remain on the island.
