Photo: Wikipedia

A new health clinic at Sun Peaks received a $100,000 shot in the arm from Health Minister Terry Lake on Friday.

The grant will assist the mountain resort municipality to outfit the new community health centre with medical equipment, supplies and furniture.

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

The project was to have started in May, but the municipality had to go back to the drawing board to revise the design. It is still aiming for completion by late fall.

The Sun Peaks Health Association created a small temporary health centre in 2002 to serve the community. The new facility will be located on the lower floor of a two-storey building of 930 square metres that will house a doctor’s office and examination rooms, as well as other health services, plus a triage area for accidents.

A major component of the centre will be family doctor services for the communities of Sun Peaks, Whitecroft and Upper Louis Creek Valley. The second floor will house the Sun Peaks ski patrol and will be paid for by the resort.

“We hope to make our health centre one of the best-equipped small community clinics among mountain resorts in British Columbia,” said Sun Peaks Mayor Al Raine. “We are focused on tele-medicine equipment that will make it easy for patients to be diagnosed by specialists in major centres while remaining in Sun Peaks.”

The health association has raised $800,000 to support health services in Sun Peaks over the past 14 years, and will donate $500,000 to the capital cost of the new health centre.

It will also fundraise to furnish the building.

– NewsKamloops.com