Dawson Hospital opening in December - Questions Remain

The good news that the Dawson City Hospital will officially open in December is tempered by a number of questions that remain unanswered about the facility itself.  They include:

  • some contractors who worked on the building have still not been paid.
  • the final costs are not known.  What was originally going to be a $5.2 million health care facility was last pegged at $31.8 million?  What will the final number be?
  • Is this the right facility for Dawson? No needs assessment was done before it was built, it was a purely political decision.  An assessment is being done now, after the fact, because of political pressure from people like Klondike MLA, Sandy Silver and direction from the Auditor General of Canada.
  • What will happen to nurses who signed contracts to start in November? 
  • How will the Hospital Corporation address the wishes of the community to see Father William Judge honoured in the naming of the facility?  Will it be addressed at all?  

This should be a happy day but the community of Dawson has mixed feelings about it because of the way this project has been mismanaged by the Cathers government.