ESTEVAN - The committee that is trying to get a new regional nursing home built in Estevan continues to hold meetings in an effort to keep the proposed facility moving forward.
The provincial government revealed in last year’s provincial budget that it had committed $275,000 towards planning for the building, the first progress for the facility since the committee’s Hearthstone Community Campaign reached its fundraising goal of $8 million in January 2015.
Don Kindopp, who chairs the new nursing home committee, said they recently held a meeting with three representatives of the Saskatchewan Health Authority.
Their previous meeting last October was a chance to, as Kindopp put it, “get to know each other.”
“As a result of that meeting, our committee put together a number of questions that we wanted answered,” said Kindopp.
They provided some, but not all of the answers.
Kindopp said the SHA representatives indicated they want to complete a needs assessment completed that would address such things as cost, location, beds and the model of care. The new nursing home committee had such a document completed by 1080 Architecture in Regina in 2018 that addressed many of those issues.
“it left us with some frustration that in April of 2021 the government announced a portion of the budget to start planning, and seemingly not much has been accomplished in that period of time in nine months … but we were left with a promise that in two months they would be able to have many of the answers to the questions we asked them,” said Kindopp.
The updated needs assessment will be required for the project to proceed. It will take another two months to complete.
The new nursing home committee indicated its desire to have some form of a voice for the new needs assessment to articulate the thoughts of the community.
Kindopp suspects that the government might not feel comfortable with a needs assessment done by another group.
He described the October meeting as exploratory in nature. The local committee wanted to know what the government meant by planning and design phase, and they wanted to know where they fit.
“We also had a question around protecting the naming rights, because there were naming opportunities provided to the members that contributed to the Hearthstone Community Campaign,” said Kindopp.
The committee also wanted to know if there was a way the community could be more involved in deciding how the facility would be built, or if it would be determined by the SHA.
There have been some positives through these meetings. The SHA knows how passionate the committee and the community are to see this project proceed. The committee wants this happen, with a sod-turning ceremony as soon as possible.
While they haven’t had much direct contact with Estevan MLA Lori Carr recently, Kindopp credits her with getting the planning money in the budget, and she remains supportive.
“Lori is a person that I think we can depend on to do what she can do with the government to get this project to move ahead,” said Kindopp.
He hopes the next meeting will yield some of the answers to questions that they’ve asked. In addition to personnel from the Saskatchewan Health Authority, he would like to see someone from the Ministry of Health.
“There was a commitment made by the members of SHA to get me a name from the Ministry of Health that we might be able to include in our next meeting,” said Kindopp.
The new nursing home committee wants the facility to be an important part of the community, not just in terms of the care of the patients, but its location. He believes it should be located on the same property as St. Joseph’s Hospital and the hospital’s board has been supportive. It will also create efficiencies with staff and the amenities at the hospital.
