With the announcement from former premier Brian Pallister of a new hospital being set for Portage la Prairie, the Portage District General Hospital Foundation is wanting to focus on campaigning in the new year.

Executive Director Tara Pettinger says they’re hoping to work alongside both Southern Health, and the province to move forward. She mentions they took a tour around the newer facility in Selkirk, looking at what types of projects they could pursue in 2022.

“We'll just keep having those meetings and those conversations,” explains Pettinger. “Then, I'm hoping not too far into 2022 we can then start our campaign as we move forward with whatever fundraisers and campaigning we're going to do to raise our dollar figure that we're going to need for this new hospital.”

She notes, while there’s no timeline on the construction as of yet, they hope for a ribbon-cutting to take place around 2025.

“We pushed this forward knowing that this was something that was overdue and the Community is ready for,” says Pettinger. “So, if we can stick to that 2025 timeline, that would be absolutely amazing.”

Looking forward, Pettinger says there’s currently no word on the location of the hospital, but we’ll keep you updated as we learn more throughout 2022.