The committee in charge of fundraising for the new Estevan Regional Nursing Home has tried practically everything to get the province on board with helping them out, and now they're reaching out to other levels of government for assistance as well. They've requested assistance from the City of Estevan. 

At the first post-election meeting of Estevan's city council on Monday night, Greg Hoffort and Don Kindopp, chair of the new Estevan Regional Nursing Home committee, made a presentation to council asking for support. They wanted a grant for a 15-bed expansion for a special care home, which they said could be considered phase one of the new nursing home.

"I'm hoping that we will be successful with the application," said Estevan Mayor Roy Ludwig. "If we are, obviously that will mean 15 beds that we are able to have happen at the hospital where we wanted the new nursing home to be anyway. Hopefully, the province, if we can make that happen, will be more willing to come forward with their money."

According to the presentation by Hoffort and Kindopp, the grant would be $6,136,535 in total, of which $1.15 million would come from the City of Estevan and six local RMs. The rest of the money would come from federal grants, going along with the money the community has already raised for the nursing home. 

"It (applying for federal money) is overturning every stone we can possibly do in order to progress," said Hoffort. 

The plan to build a new nursing home has been in the works for a long time. The committee set a goal of fundraising $8 million to get their share of the cost covered, a goal that they have now long since achieved. 

"It's been a long road, it really has," said Ludwig. "I do understand that there are other nursing homes in rough shape, and I guess we're being told in rougher shape than ours...We have been patiently ways and we've been trying many, many different ways to get this to happen, so maybe this will be the opportunity to get the province to come to the table."

Support for the idea at council was nearly instant. Kindopp pointed out that they have showed the province the current care home is in need of millions of dollars of repairs, a number that is only growing as time passes. 

"Both of you have done so much work to make sure we find a way to somehow get this moving forward," said councilor Shelly Veroba. Mayor Ludwig, meanwhile, acknowledged that the frustration in the community around this was mounting and their patience was running out.