The New Estevan Regional Nursing Home Committee has now raised their share of the fund needed to start construction of a new Regional Nursing Home in estevan. 

"The project is at the point now where we are seeking approval from the government to proceed with the construction," explained Don Kindopp, Chair of the New Estevan Regional Nursing Home Committee.

"It's been a little over 2 years now since we raised the community's share of the $40 million towards the building costs. And we've let the government know through Sun Country and also, we've spoken to the minister and let him know that we're ready to start building."

"We're waiting for them to give us approval and we're trying to look at some innovative things that we might do to get the costs down and still maintain the quality and integrity of the type of building we need to in order to deliver elder care by today's standard."

He adds that they are now thinking about where the new facility would best fit.

"We would recommend that it be built on the St. Joe's Hospital grounds and be integrated in some matter in St. Joe's. That way we could get efficiencies with services such as heating, power and food services."

"We wouldn't be required to build a kitchen in there, we wouldn't be required to add in new furnace rooms or supply area or a docking area. So by coming up with a plan to integrate it with St. Joe's hospital, hopefully, we will encourage the government to move on it."

He knows however, that it might not be an easy task to convince the provincial government to kick in their share right away.

"We're told how bad the economic times are and I realize that, but at the same time, we have 70 of our dear elders in a nursing home that are living in a building that was designed over 50 year ago for a ideal of care that is not in today's model of care for elders."

"It was more institutional in nature, long hallways with rooms off the hallway and that's certainly not today's philosophy in terms of elder care. Today is more based on the fact that this is their home and so when they move from their current home, into their new home, it should be a home-like environment."

"We're aware of some of the frustrations of the public in terms of getting this done and I can assure them that we share in that frustration of trying to get this done."

He adds that there is something that the public can do to hopefully speed up the process. 

"The people in the community will have an opportunity within the next few weeks of signing a letter that we've addressed to the government saying that it's time to get on this job. And we would encourage them to put their signature on that letter."

 READ MORE: New Estevan Regional Nursing Home Getting Closer to Reaching Its Goal