$50,000 for Sun Peaks Health Centre study

NEWS/ SUN PEAKS — A $50,000 provincial government grant will help Sun Peaks determine the viability of an expanded health-care centre, Health Minister Terry Lake announced today.

“The Sun Peaks Mountain Resort Municipality, Sun Peaks Health Association and the community have been working hard at promoting their vision of an expanded health centre for families, residents and tourists,” said Lake.

“This funding will help outline the business case for an expanded health centre.”

The municipality will match $500,000 that the Sun Peaks Health Association has raised and has committed to undertaking a major fundraising campaign to raise an additional $1.5 million to support an expanded facility.

The health association set up a temporary centre in 2002 that is run out of a modular building consisting of a reception area, a physician’s office, an examining room and a washroom. It’s staffed by volunteers and physicians.

Sun Peaks Mountain Resort Municipality Mayor Al Raine said the grant will “make sure that we have a business model that makes sense.”

The Sun Peaks service area includes Whitecroft, Louis Creek Valley and Heffley Lake and the population varies greatly from season to season due to visitors and seasonal employees, from 400 permanent residents year round to over 5,000 in the winter.

According to the municipality, in 2012-13 the health centre, ski patrol and first responders with the Sun Peaks Fire and Rescue handled about 2,000 patients.