GLADSTONE, Man. – It’s a busy day at the Gladstone hospital, with a dozen people waiting for appointments with the hospital’s five doctors and a teenage boy being treated for a knee injury in the emergency room.
It’s hard to believe that this facility was on the brink of closing in June 2002. Like many rural communities, Gladstone has been under pressure as the rural population has shrunk. But unlike most towns that begin losing their services, Gladstone managed to get some back.
The emergency department, which had been closed, has reopened, and there are now five doctors on staff, which is two more than in 1998.
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Mayor Catherine Smith remembers the knife edge the town walked for the past few years, and recalls with a smile the desperately hoped-for news she received that four South African doctors had agreed to move to town and work at the hospital.
“We were within moments of having to close,” said Smith. Between 1999 and 2002 the hospital lost its emergency department and all three permanent doctors decided to leave the community.
The hospital limped along with temporary doctors, but rumours came to Smith and rural municipality reeves that the regional health authority planned to close the hospital.
Smith knew the town had to stop that from happening.
“Losing the hospital is something the town might not have recovered from,” she said.
Like many people in the town of 849 people, Smith is a senior who moved in after leaving the family farm. About 25 percent of town residents are seniors, and Smith knew most wouldn’t stay – and new people wouldn’t retire to the community – if there was no hospital.
“Would you want your parents to retire to a place without a hospital?”
Smith and the reeves of the RMs of Westburne and Lakeview began organizing local people to fight to keep the hospital. They knew that once a closure was announced, it would be harder to keep open.
Smith said the local town and farm community worked with the 5,000-member Sandy Bay Indian reservation to lobby the regional health authority and the provincial government. They began compiling information and making their case.
“You can’t give up,” said Smith.
“You have to find out what the facts are, and you can’t let up on those facts. But you have to make sure those facts are true.”
One of those facts was that some parts of the Sandy Bay reserve were an hour away from Gladstone, and adding another 20 minutes to get to medical care in Neepawa or an extra 40 minutes to get to Portage la Prairie would be too long.
“You’d lose that ‘golden hour,’ and that’s not fair,” said Smith.
Through diligent lobbying, local people managed to convince the authorities to keep the hospital open. But there was one condition: they had to find doctors.
Once they found the doctors they got another piece of good news. They would also receive money to reopen the emergency room. That happened Dec. 1, 2003.
Now Gladstone residents feel confident about the future of their town, and confident about living in their community.
“If you’re going to get sick, come to Gladstone,” said Smith with a laugh.
“We’ve got a great hospital.”
