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2 Wednesday March 2 2016 HEALTH AND WELLNESS HAY RIVER NEWS BRIEFS Northern towns tapped as dollar- friendly vacation choices AcompanythatbillsitselfasthelargestCanadian-based online travel company has singled out three Northwest Territories towns as must-see attractions. Flight Network listed Fort Smith Inuvik and Behchoko among 50 small towns in Canada that make a great option for a family va- cation. Arviat and Pond Inlet Nunavut are also included in the list as are Dawson City and Watson Lake Yukon. Long-term care review warns of growing pressure on NWT system The Northwest Territories will need to continue adding long-term care capacity for years to come according to g- ures released by the Department of Health and Social Ser- vices on Feb. 29. Seniors over 65 years of age represent the largest growing demographic in the NWT those over 70 are expected to number near 1800 by the end of this year agureexpectedtocontinuetogrowuntilafter2020.With 27 new LTC beds planned in Norman Wells and Behchoko adding to the current stock of 174 the review will inform the GNWT as it manages the shift over the next 20 years. Alberta seeks input on physician- assisted dying The Alberta New Democrats are reaching out for feed- back on changes that will need to be made to provincial law in response to the Supreme Court of Canada ruling that physician-assisted death will be a legal right in some cases starting June 6 of this year. An advisory commit- tee will ask Albertans about topics such as age eligibil- ity location and type of services advanced directives reection period and whether publicly-funded institu- tions may opt out. An online survey will be open at www. health.alberta.ca until Mar. 31. WWW.FORTSMITH.CA Be a Fort Smith volunteer If you would like to become a member please email townoffortsmithfortsmith.ca to obtain an expression of interest form. THE TOWN OF FORT SMITH is looking for people interested in joining the Advisory Board on Culture ABC For the purposes of this board culture shall be understood to include literacy language arts heritage and related fields. The Powers and Duties of the ABC are as follows Actively promoting culture and related programs in the community Be consulted and make recommendations on matters of policy directly related to the development maintenance and use of cultural facilities and services Provide input and make recommendations regarding the development of a broad range of cultural programs and services that will provide opportunities for all segments of the population Provide input about strategic planning including fiscal considerations on development of a broad range of cultural programs events and initiatives Encourage community engagement to actively support assist and participate in cultural programs services and events Liaise and provide advice on the development of partnerships and collaborations with other stakeholders in the town and in the territory. By CRAIG GILBERT March will bring more than the luck of the Irish to Hay River as the towns new health centre nally gets up and running. Since Jan. 4 employees of the Hay River Health and Social Services Author- ity HRHSSA have been moving furniture fixtures equipment and supplies into the new Hay River Regional Health Centre. On Mar. 4 the medical clinic will open to the public in its new 50 million 74000-square- foot home. They are also installing a security system and patient data software and hammer- ing out how the workflows in the new building will differ from the day-to-day at H.H. Williams Memorial Hospital. Its going to be differ- ent because of the layout HRHSSA acting CEO Erin Griths said. The clinic is included with us in one build- ing as well so thats going to be a new aspect. So how were going to have a patient ow move through the new building is going to be totally dierent from how we handle clients now. Not all of the services housed at H.H. Williams are moving. Public health social servicescommunitycounsel- ling human resources and nance will remain. Our working relationship with those departments spe- cically also had to be re-es- tablishedshesaid.Ourlevel of care will continue to be at as high a standard as we are right now. Were not losing or adding any services were just moving and its our job to ensure there is very little impact to clients. The new health centre was built by Arctic Canada Con- struction Ltd. and Bird De- sign Construction Inc. and oers primary care emer- gency services and medical and surgical day care reha- bilitation dialysis and sup- port services like a pharmacy but no long-term care beds. The HRHSSA has 168 full- time 27 part-time and ap- proximately 50 casual em- ployeesaccordingtoGriths. Those that work in the emer- gency department will be eager to move into the new digs which feature an en- closed ambulance bay. All transfers will take place inside the building which is pretty exciting for us Griffiths said espe- cially when its 40 below in the middle of January. Theyarealsoanxioustoget the new building fully func- tional. Griths said services will be phased in and exact dates and more information about each transition will be released to the public closer to the move. As mentioned above the rst service to move was the medical clinic which will re-open at 845 a.m. Mar. 4. The new health centre will be open at 8 a.m. Monday to Friday both it and the clinic will close at 5 p.m. Eective Mar. 7 the clin- ics new phone number is 874-8100. Griffiths expects the entire move to take about three months with the last services to leave H.H. Me- morial being the labora- tory x-ray department and emergency department with the drive-in ambulance bay waiting for it. Its a little unnerving because it is a really large change for us but people are really excited she said. We have our systems and pro- cesses in place its a state- of-the-art facility and theyre really looking forward to working in the new space. Many others in the town are looking forward to seeing the new hospital as well ac- cordingtoMayorBradMapes. Its great to see that were starting to make the move over there he told the Jour- nal. Its something the com- munity needed to upgrade our medical facility. People are wondering when its going to open and now that weve made the announcement on the timeframes its all posi- tive. Its going to be a bit of a challenge to get the move over with but Erin and her sta at the hospital have been pretty impressive with the layout and the timeframe with what theyre doing. Were working on what we can do with the recreation centre and with the hospital they are denitely going to be great things to show o for our community. Hay River hopes for healthy hospital transition INTERIOR HEAVY EQUIPMENT Operator School www.IHESCHOOL.com Call Now 1-866-399-3853 Housing Transportation Packages Available NO SIMULATORS JOB ASSISTANCE FOR LIFE NEVER SHARE MACHINES START ANY MONDAY GET TRAINED. GET WORKING.