New 284-bed secure psychiatric facility opens in North Battleford

A new $407-million secure psychiatric hospital had its grand opening Friday in North Battleford.

The Saskatchewan Hospital North Battleford (SHNB) replaces the province's first mental hospital, Saskatchewan Hospital, which opened in 1914.

The new facility has 284 official beds — 188 psychiatric rehabilitation beds and a separate secure wing with 96 beds for offenders living with mental health issues. Approximately 75 per cent of those have already been filled. Intake has been slowed intentionally and more beds will be filled as staff sifts through referrals.

All patients from the old Saskatchewan Hospital were relocated in three stages.

"This transition was staged and slow," said hospital director Linda Shynkaruk.

"Our staff worked really hard for months prior and packed everybody up so the day of the actual move all we had to do is load people in vehicles and drive them over. So it was very smooth."

"Mission accomplished"

David Fan, the former CEO of Prairie North Health Region before it was amalgamated into the provincial health region, held court as the emcee of Friday's grand opening.

He said he used to have a framed photo of the old hospital in his office to remind him of the goal: a state-of-the-art mental health facility.

"Mission accomplished," he told the crowd gathered in the hospital's brand-new gymnasium.

The new facility includes private rooms and enhanced mental health treatment.

"This facility will allow us to better address the needs of offenders in a therapeutic environment, and will allow for improved assessment, treatment, and rehabilitation for offenders living with mental health challenges," said provincial Corrections and Policing Minister Christine Tell.

The hospital is a P3 project and was the largest investment in mental health services in the history of the province.

At its peak the old Saskatchewan Hospital, a massive red-brick complex with a scenic view of the North Saskatchewan River, was a community unto itself.

It had its own barns, cattle, grain field, school and chapel — even a curling club and legion.

For more than a century, it provided care for thousands of mentally ill patients.

On time or overdue

The crowd in the hospital gymnasium Friday morning heard from a patient representative who had spent several years at the Saskatchewan Hospital.

Kari Laliberte said she was sad about leaving the place she'd considered home for years, but when she got to the new hospital, she was "surprised how beautiful" it was.

"The energy in this place makes me feel blessed," she said, reading a speech in front of the crowd.

Kari lived for years in the old hospital, where temperatures spiked and dropped and she shared a bathroom with 20 other people. 

For the administrative staff of the hospital, the move means "a more humane facility," according to Shynkaruk

"We're the only provincial facility so when we look to best practice we look to our other sister facilities like in Whitby, Ontario, Pine Oak in B.C....those kinds of places, but really it's about being human."

Shynkaruk said this approach was long overdue.

"We could have had a building years and years ago for sure. We're just happy, happy to have it now."