Residents of northern Alberta hamlet relieved as maternity centre project moves forward

As construction plans get underway for a new health and maternity centre in the remote hamlet of La Crete, Alta., community members are voicing excitement about the project they say has been sorely needed.

The hamlet and surrounding area, roughly 700 kilometres northwest of Edmonton, are home to about 3,800 people.

Expectant parents need to travel about 110 kilometres to the nearest hospital that does deliveries, located in High Level.

The province announced funding in 2021 for the $79-million project. It is expected to open at the end of 2026.

To be operated by Covenant Health, the La Crete Maternity and Community Health Centre will offer expanded advanced ambulatory care, low-risk maternity care and other health-care services. It will be built next to an existing health centre and continuing care centre.

It's now in the final stages of design, according to Covenant Health, and a contract with the successful contractor manager is expected to be in place by February.

Residents like Joyce Fehr have been advocating for a new maternity centre for over a decade.

"People, they grow here. This is where their family is. They raise their children, they grow old here, they die here, and so we need to look at the services for all of them," said Fehr, who chairs a Covenant Health community board in the area.

"Looking after the births is a big thing because ... you know, 400-plus [births] per year, that's more than one a day where people are travelling out of town for that.

"And there's always babies born on the side of the road or in the ambulance or, you know, on the way to the hospital. That safety aspect will be taken care of."

Community members asked Alberta Health Services in 2010 and again in 2011 for prenatal and postpartum services in the region, according to previous reporting by CBC News.

Having care directly in the community will alleviate a lot of stress for expecting parents, Fehr said. The community is tight-knit, with a high Mennonite population, many with large families.

'From birth until death'

Fehr said there is a high need for the maternity centre in the community.

"There's a lot of children. 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 seniors' lodge," she said.

"We are a community, basically, where we need 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 statement from Alberta Infrastructure. It will also include an EMS response facility with ambulance bays.

On Oct. 31, the province issued a request for qualification for general contractor services for the project, with a closing date of Nov. 28.

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

"In many instances, it's an hour and a half travel to a hospital that does deliveries, said Mackenzie County Reeve Josh Knelsen. "So, to say that [the maternity centre] is wanted is probably a little bit of an understatement. It's more than needed.

"It could very easily be the difference between life and death. It's a long ways that we're talking, 150-plus kilometres, to the nearest hospital for many people that reside in the southern part of our municipality."

Knelsen said he's excited to think about the doors to the new facility opening, "and to be able to meet people in the street that are about to bring little ones to this world, and know that, an element of stress will have been eliminated by the opening of this facility."