City celebrates hard-working volunteers

There was cause for celebration last Saturday morning as the City of Lloydminster thanked local volunteers at its annual Community Volunteer Awards.

Breakfast and the awards ceremony were hosted by Lloyd’s Family and Community Support Services (FCSS) at the Lloydminster Golf and Curling Centre from 9-11 a.m. on

Saturday and were well attended by the public.

“Today is really an opportunity to recognize just a few of the volunteers in our community, and volunteers make our community,” said Mayor Gerald Aalbers prior to breakfast and the awards ceremony.

“Saying ‘thank you’ goes a long way, and I think these last couple years with the pandemic have been challenging because people are maybe forgetting to say ‘thank you’ as much as we’d like,” said Aalbers.

“This is an opportunity to thank them and show some appreciation for what they do each and every day.”

Awards were given out for three special categories including Longest Service Award, Most Volunteer Hours in 2022, and the Honourable Service Award.

Longest Service Award recipients included Bev Honey,

Byron Stepp, Jason Bacon, Jean Wobeser and Ray Tatro.

Most Volunteer Hours Award recipients included Deanna Sharp, Denise Friday, Gene Langdon, Janet Stucka, Jessica Falcon, Kristine Knourek, Lawrence Davidson, Michelle Stepp, Randy Law and Thomas Stangowitz.

This year’s Honourable Service Award winners were Amy Levesque, Barb Nelson, Chantelle McAlpine, Elsie Malka, Gwen Mottram, Jessica Falcon, Kelsie Stansfield, Kevin Nelson, Kirsten DeSchover, Kristine Knourek, Lonnie Boothman, Ray Tatro, Rob

Ross, Sarah Sklapsky and Wendy Sydoruk.

“This is our second year since COVID doing the in-person breakfast and we had 120 people registered to be with us this morning,” said Patrick Lancaster, manager, programs and social services, FCSS. “Lloydminster runs on volunteers and we’re so grateful for all the work they do. We’re also blessed with a wide range of services and activities we have in our community because of those volunteers.”

“Patients typically require to be accompanied by spouse, family or friends and this too saves everyone cost and time,” said Richer.

“The space will be much more comfortable, modern and bright as the Lloydminster Health Foundation has funds to improve standards and comfort of the space.”

The following is the official letter regarding the LRHF dialysis update Lloydminster Dialysis Project Update

The project planning group, which includes representation from both Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) and Alberta Health Services (AHS), have been meeting regularly over the last several months to finalize design plans for the new dialysis unit in Lloydminster.

The design work is wrapping up and the final design for the new dialysis space is expected to be signed off by the operational groups in the next few weeks.

There has been a delay in the project timeline due to the original space within the Prairie North Mall being deemed less than ideal by the project architect. It was recommended that an alternate space with a slab foundation be scoped to better support the structural needs of the project.

As a result of this recommendation, SHA has found a more suitable space in their Community Services Building close to the hospital. This new space is currently occupied by services that will need to be relocated before construction commences on the dialysis project. SHA is working on transition plan with the impacted services to see them relocated as smoothly as pos - sible over the coming months.

We anticipate the Community Services building space to be vacant by end of July at which time construction can begin on the new dialysis unit.

As that work gets underway, we will provide updated timelines for the project.

As with many capital projects, we have seen a significant escalation in construction costs beyond the funding that was originally announced in 2021 by Alberta Health. In recognition of those increased costs, AHS has worked with our Alberta government partners to increase the budget allocation for the project to see it through to completion. Thank you.

Janice Stewart, Chief Zone Officer, Central Zone, AHS, Andrew McLetchie, Vice President, Integrated Northern Health & Chief Nursing Officer, SHA.