Estevan MRI donor pleased with progress, but wants more help from gov’t

Estevan’s Elaine Walkom is glad that things are finally trending towards getting an MRI for the city.

However, she said there’s still quite a ways to go before making it a reality.

Walkom is the private donor who contributed $2 million toward an MRI scanner that would be installed and operated in Estevan, in honour of her late husband.

After initially refusing to accept Walkom’s donation in May of 2023, the provincial government changed its mind and accepted in March.

“I was pleased it went through,” Walkom said. “I didn’t know what their arguments against it could be.”

She said the project is crucial since the Estevan area is underserved when it comes to health care.

“I think we deserve (an MRI),” she said. “We have the population and there’s people waiting up to two years for (an MRI scan) and I think with it in closer proximity, it’s going to save those people over by the Manitoba border at least two hours in driving just to get to Estevan instead of driving all the way to Regina, or in some cases Saskatoon.”

Walkom added an MRI machine in Estevan would take a big burden off the province by being able to serve all of southeast Saskatchewan.

“We might even be able to take some from (the) Regina area. It moves everybody up a step or two,” Walkom said.

Health Minister Everett Hindley said the province is approving the project, but will not be providing any operational funding since the machine won’t be up and running this year.

Although the ministry is nominally backing the project, Walkom said she hopes the government will kick in a bit more funding to the project and help it move along more quickly.

“If this would have gone through … two years ago when I first started advocating for it, we would have it by now,” she said.

“I guess right now I’ll take what I can get, but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to keep pushing.”

According to the St. Joseph’s Hospital Foundation, $2,020,500 has been raised as it works towards a $6.5-million target to bring the MRI machine to the community.

“Any amount you can give us is a help to us,” Walkom said to potential donors.

Walkom added she’s also asking for help from corporate donors. As well, she urged people to phone their MLAs or the premier’s office to help put pressure on them to provide more funds.