SIOUX LOOKOUT – The Sioux Lookout First Nations Health Authority is set to buy the Sioux Lookout Inn and Suite to ensure those coming in from rural and remote communities have accommodation while waiting for appointments at the Meno-Ya-Win Clinic.
During a public meeting with council, health authority CAO Monica Hemeon said that on April 18, 112 patients were roomed in hotels for the night, with 18 of those patients transported in three shuttles to Dryden for accommodation.
“Sometimes if those shuttles are not available, so we sent other vehicles. Then we have five or six vehicles on the road with staff moving those people back and forth,” said Hemeon.
Health authority CFO Brian Calleja described driving patients to Dryden as being “particularly concerning.”
“There are generally people that are very ill. You can imagine. They’re elderly. They’re on small planes being transported to Sioux Lookout and then we are putting them in vehicles that same night. Transporting them to Dryden, sometimes on an icy highway, for an hour, an hour plus, and then in the morning, they are waking up and have to be transported back to Sioux Lookout just to come to the hospital here to attend their medical appointments,” said Calleja.
Purchasing the Sioux Lookout Inn and Suite would provide the health authority with 59 extra rooms, as well as approximately 84 square metres of meeting and banquet space, 40 regular parking spaces and two (2) barrier-free parking spaces.
In order to move ahead with the purchase, the health authority has submitted a zoning bylaw amendment application to have the property reclassified as a hostel.
At the moment, part of the lot faces the highway and is zoned as a highway commercial lot. Under Ontario’s Planning Act, hostels are not permitted in highway commercial zones.
Although the hostel will be used similarly in nature to a hotel, the property is not for commercial use, but to strictly house patients.
Calleja acknowledged that keeping the patients in Sioux Lookout would be beneficial as those staying in the hostel do venture out to purchase various goods and services while in town.
Mayor Doug Lawrence recognized the importance of the need to accommodate people seeking healthcare in Sioux Lookout by stating that “they don’t need to be burdened with a trip out of town.”
Sioux Lookout council voted unanimously to amend the bylaw.
