In 2014, a committee formed to raise money for a new Estevan Regional Nursing Home facility that would meet the standards of health care and seniors care that we have today. Three years later, in 2017, they hit their goal of $8 million, which would cover 20 per cent of the cost while the government of Saskatchewan would cover the remaining $32 million.

Another three years after the money was raised, that committee is still waiting for answers.

"That has not gotten to a point where anything constructive has happened about this," said Committee Chair Don Kindopp. "Our last contact with the government was in May of this year when the government announced the Building a Strong Saskatchewan Program. They were looking at infrastructure in the province, and so I contact our MLA and let her know that we were interested in proceeding with this replacement of the regional nursing home with this program."

While local MLA Lori Carr expressed interest in the project, it still has not been able to move forward. Part of that may have come from the pandemic that started to take effect in the spring of this year, which may have hurt the timing of the Building a Strong Saskatchewan program.

Kindopp understood this and decided to try to get the ball rolling in a different way by contacting Minister of Health Jim Reiter through a letter in late May.

"I wrote this letter in light of the information we were getting around COVID 19 and long-term care facilities. I suggested to him that in light of what's happening, the standard and guidelines around long-term care in Saskatchewan should be viewed in a new lens, the new lens of COVID 19, and see of the guidelines still stood up."

In the letter, Kindopp also expressed the community's interest in moving forward with the replacement project, and he did receive a response.

"I received a letter back from him and the premier urging us to keep in touch with them, but at the time the project was not going to proceed."

The current Estevan Regional Nursing home was built in 1966, so it's well overdue for an update. Health care standards have changed drastically in the 54 years that the facility has been open. 

"That care model was more institutional-type of care, whereas today's philosophy around the care for the elderly is 'this is their home' and we have to make it a home environment for them. Schedules and designs must be put in place that enhance their living in the facility, so it involves family, it involves open spaces, it involves where the elder can be more proactive in their own care, so we need to design a building that meets that standard of care now."

The current facility doesn't fit that model with long hallways that have rooms off to the sides that would now be considered too small, and bathrooms that are out of date. 

As to what is stopping a new care home from being built, that lies with the provincial government, but they aren't completely to blame either. Kindopp is incredibly thankful that they started raising the money they needed in the midst of the last oil boom and finished just before it started to go down. 

"So I would say right now, the government hasn't tapped us on the shoulder and said 'okay, we're ready to proceed your project now'. I would say the bottleneck is the government, and why are they holding it back? I guess you'd have to talk to them but one could surmise that the economic situation of the province. But having said that, Building a Stronger Saskatchewan, they've come up with funds for infrastructure and we were just hoping that replacing the current nursing home would be one of those projects but that hasn't come to fruition for us."

With the project taking so long to get off the ground, Kindopp says that they are just beginning to weigh any other options that they may have.

"It's very frustrating, and we've gotten to the point where we've started to look at alternatives to replacing the current nursing home. What those alternatives may be, that basically involves us as a community taking the bull by the horns and moving ahead but we'll have to look and examine that type of move to see if it would be a proper and supported decision for us to make."