The group raising money for a new nursing home is asking the City of Estevan to dig deep to show its support for the project.
Don Kindopp, who is a member of the Hearthstone Community Campaign group, was before council Monday night to ask the City to contribute $1 million of the $8 million needed to be raised locally. It is expected the total price tag for a new nursing home will be in the $40 million range but 20 per cent of that, or roughly $8 million must be raised in the Estevan before the province will even consider moving to the construction phase.
In a letter to council from Hearthstone co-chairman Vern Buck, it was noted the Estevan Regional Nursing Home, which was built in 1967, is well below any reasonable standards and may even pose a risk to residents because of infection control, accessibility and safety issues.
Buck also noted the typical room at ERNH is 45 per cent smaller than current provincial standards, the doorways are too small to accommodate modern medical equipment, the building is in a constant state of disrepair due to water leaks and bad wiring, and proper recreational facilities are sorely lacking.
Kindopp echoed those comments during his presentation at Monday's meeting and also pointed out that to meet the need of the Estevan catchment area, which is an area comprised of the city as well as surrounding RMs, a new nursing home will be required to meet the demand.
"The demographics support the need for 145 long-term care beds by the year 2030," Kindopp said. "We look ahead from 2010 to 2030, we see the population of this (catchment) area growing from 16,566 up to 17,189, so there is a continual growth in the population demographics of our catchment area."
Kindopp also touched on the location of where the facility should be located. He said the Hearthstone group conducted a study that took a number of factors into consideration and determined that a nursing home located on the grounds of St. Joseph's Hospital, which would be connected to the hospital, would be the best fit.
"You see of all the options provided there, the one that consistently meets the criteria given was that of building on the St. Joseph's site," Kindopp said.
Monday's presentation also provided one of the first glimpses at what the facility might actually look like.
Kindopp said their design would allow for 72 beds in total by having six homes with room for 12 residents in each home. Those six homes would be comprised of three separate pods of two homes, each of which would be connected to one another.
"Now it's interesting that threes pods are shaped like hearts. We have love of mind, love of body and love of spirit," Kindopp said.
As for how they hope to pay for the facility, in his letter, Buck said that although he is confident the generous residents of Estevan will raise the local share of the project, a $1 million contribution from the City, payable over five to 10 years, would inspire others to follow their lead.
"Many potential large donors to the fundraising campaign have expressed interest only if there is significant municipal support for the project," Buck said. "This is especially true for the business community who feel their tax dollars should be supporting a project of this nature. This campaign will only be a success and the building of a new Estevan Regional Nursing Home will only become a reality with the generous financial support and leadership of the City of Estevan."
The request was given a warm reception as a handful of councillors said they would support such a move. In an interview after Monday's meeting, Mayor Gary St. Onge said funding a new nursing home is precisely why a health levy was added to local taxes in 2010 and although they have used some of those funds for the recruitment and retention of doctors a new home remains a high priority.
"We are taking in about $180,000 right now (through the health levy)," said St. Onge. "If we can get the other items in place so we are not spending a lot of money on that, we would have no problem practically raising $1 million in five years which is what they are asking for. That was the purpose of it."
Like Buck, St. Onge said he is also confident the community will band together to raise the $8 million needed.
"I think this community will raise $8 million. I don't think that will be a problem and if part of that has to be us that is fine."
