Province announces new 143-bed personal care home

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This article was published 20/02/2019 (1891 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

STEINBACH – Three years after the Progressive Conservatives vowed to “fast track” construction of 1,200 personal care home beds, they’re beginning to make good on that commitment.

Premier Brian Pallister and Health Minister Cameron Friesen announced today construction of a new 143-bed home, with the promise of more to come.

The new Rest Haven Nursing Home will replace a 60-unit facility in this southeastern Manitoba city. It will be built adjacent to an 86-suite seniors’ home.

The government says the new facility will herald a new approach to PCH design in the province to make them feel more like a home and less like an institution.

No financial details were provided, pending completion of the tendering process. However, Friesen said the community was raising more than 10 per cent of the anticipated costs.

The Pallister government had been criticized for halting personal care home construction due to its insistence that provincial funding be capped at $133,000 per bed. That led to some projects being cancelled while others were sent back to the drawing board.

Previously under the NDP, construction costs were running as high as $400,000 per bed, the PCs said, something they were unwilling to entertain.

But now, the government says, it’s worked with communities on innovative designs that will make the institutions more liveable while reducing costs.

The new facility in Steinbach will feature clusters of single resident rooms with washrooms/showers that form a “local neighbourhood” of 11 to 12 rooms. Each cluster will include dining and activity spaces as well as large multi-purpose gathering spaces and small, private lounge areas. 

“It will form a small local neighbourhood that will provide a sense of community among residents,” Pallister said at the announcement Thursday, which was attended by a score of local dignitaries, including local Conservative Member of Parliament Ted Falk.

Friesen said the Steinbach project’s financial plan has been approved by the province. It will now proceed to the detailed design stage in co-ordination with Southern Health, the area’s regional health authority. 

David Driedger, CEO of HavenGroup, the sponsoring corporation, said he hopes the new facility will be completed by 2021.

During the last provincial election, the PCs promised to build 1,200 personal care home beds province-wide within eight years.

While this is the government’s first official announcement in fulfilling that pledge, Friesen said that Manitobans “aren’t going to have to wait very much longer” for the next announcement.

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca