Saskatchewan Hospital

Saskatchewan Hospital was the first mental health hospital to be built in Saskatchewan, Canada. Prior to being established patients were sent to hospitals in Manitoba. The first superintendent of the hospital was James Walter MacNeill. The number of patients peaked at over 4,000 in 1946, with the advent of community care throughout the province the number of patients in the facility had dropped to under 300 by 1980.The current hospital is located at 1 Jersey Street in the North Battleford Crown Colony, a census subdivision adjacent to the City of North Battleford. The current building, a large pavilion-style mental institution, was built between 1911 and 1913 and has 156 beds.New SHNBIn 2011, the provincial government announced plans to construct a new building to house the hospital. Construction began in summer 2015 and is on-time and on-budget to be complete in June 2018.New SHNB promises a number of modernizations to improve patient care, including: 32 more beds (an increase from 156 to 188), A 96-bed secure facility for offenders with mental health needs, A "home-like" rather than institutional atmosphere, Scenic placement on the North Saskatchewan river with maximized views of nature from inside, and A cogeneration system to reduce its environmental footprint.The Government of Saskatchewan committed $407 million to the project in 2015, which covers design, construction, and 30 years of maintenance. Of this, approximately $222 million is attributable to construction on a facility large enough to cover 5 football fields.