As plans are underway to build a new health and maternity center in the isolated hamlet of La Crete, Alberta, community members are expressing enthusiasm for the project which they say is absolutely necessary.

The hamlet and surrounding area, located about 700 kilometers northwest of Edmonton, is home to about 3,800 people.

Expectant parents must travel approximately 70 miles to the nearest hospital that performs deliveries, located in High Level.

The province has announced funding in 2021 for the $79 million project. Its opening is scheduled for the end of 2026.

Operated by Covenant Health, the Crete Maternity and Community Health Center will offer expanded advanced outpatient care, low-risk maternity care and other health services. It will be built next to an existing health center and continuing care center.

According to Covenant Health, it is now in the final stages of design, and a contract with a contract manager is expected to be in place by February.

Residents like Joyce Fehr have been advocating for a new maternity ward for more than a decade.

“People grow up here. This is where their families are. They raise their children, they grow old here, they die here, and so we have to look at services for all of them,” said Fehr, who chairs a committee of the Covenant. Community health council in the region.

“Taking care of births is an important thing because … you know, over 400 (births) a year, that’s more than one a day where people are traveling out of town for this.

“And there are always babies who are born on the side of the road, in the ambulance or, you know, on the way to the hospital. That safety aspect will be taken into account.”

Community members asked Alberta Health Services in 2010 and again in 2011 for prenatal and postpartum services in the area, according to a previous CBC News report.

Having care right in the community will alleviate a lot of stress for expectant parents, Fehr said. The community is close-knit, with a large Mennonite population, many of whom have large families.

“From birth to death”

Fehr said there is a great need for a maternity center in the community.

“There’s a lot of kids. We have, I think, six or eight schools. There’s a lot of private schools. We have a long-term care facility. We have a senior’s lodge,” he said. she declared.

“We are basically a community where we have to provide services from birth until death.”

The upgraded facility will improve access to primary care and mental health services in northern Alberta, according to a release from Alberta Infrastructure. It will also include an EMS response center with ambulance bays.

On October 31, the province issued a request for qualifications for the services of a general contractor for the project, with a closing date of November 28.

While officials and residents are excited about what the new center means for Crete and the surrounding area, they are also concerned that it has taken so long to get the ball rolling.

“In many cases, it’s an hour and a half drive to get to a hospital that does deliveries, said Mackenzie County Reeve Josh Knelson. “So saying (maternity) is wanted is probably a euphemism. It’s more than necessary.

“This could very easily mean the difference between life and death. For many people residing in the southern part of our municipality, there is a long road, more than 150 kilometers, to the nearest hospital. “

Knelson said he’s excited to think about opening the doors to the new facility “and being able to meet people on the street who are about to bring little ones into the world, and knowing that an element of stress will have been eliminated by the opening of this establishment.