Hospital Walkway Grand Opening

A cold, snowy and windy day turned out to be appropriate time to celebrate the grand opening of a brand new covered walkway at Cypress Regional Hospital in Swift Current.

The official ribbon cutting for the walkway was held at the Hospital on Friday. The project was made possible through a partnership between the Cypress Health Region and Dr. Noble Irwin Regional Healthcare Foundation, and was funded in part through a generous gift from the estate of the late Jessie Alberta Grant.

"I think she would be very pleased," said Georgia Bratvold, one of Jessie's friends and the co-executor of her estate. "It seems like it's taken a long time, but it actually came together very quickly, and I think it's a very nice legacy to be leaving for Alberta Grant."

The climate-controlled walkway extends from the hospital's lobby to the parking lot, and also features hand-rails and slip-resistant flooring. It is also designed in such a way where it uses seasonal sun patterns to help warm up the walkway in the winter and keep it cool in the summer.

"I think it's so valuable to people who are having to come in and out of the hospital, whether it's on a regular basis or not," said Gloria Illerbrun, Executive Director of Health Services for the Health Region. "It's a long way from the drive to the front door, and especially on a day like today where you have snow and sometimes you have rain. We've just had a lot of people complain about that long walk, it's tiring and in the elements, now we've protected them from that."

"It was an identified need that maybe should have been done in the first place when the hospital was constructed, but for whatever reason wasn't," said Dr. Noble Irwin Foundation Executive Director Clay Thompson. "When we got the opportunity to help out and see it completed, it was our pleasure to do just that."

The walkway also acknowledges the contribution made from the estate of Jessie Alberta Grant and the foundation through window etchings at the front door.

There are still a few finishing touches left to be done, with plans to put in benches in the walkway for those waiting for transportation, and landscaping around the structure will be completed when spring arrives.