Progress has slowed in regards to the development of the new Estevan Regional Nursing Home. Chair of the Nursing Home committee, Don Kindopp says the new plans can save a lot of money.

Don Kindopp, "So we met with the Minister of Health Mr. Ottenreit MLA out of Regina, and he met with myself and our worship Roy Ludwig, and Greg Hoffort from St. Joseph's Hospital. We presented them with the proposal that was done up for us, that we could replace the Estevan Regional Nursing Home at about 10 million dollars less than what was estimated. There would be a significant saving in the new facility as opposed to the old facility. Mainly, because of its location and ability to utilize the accessories that would be on the grounds of the St. Joseph's Hospital. The Minister was very interested in the proposal and would send it to his department to have a look at it further and he would get back to us in January. Towards the end of January I hadn't heard from him, so I sent him an email reminding him of our email and what has been going on since. To date, I have not received any word back regarding the nursing home since. We're hopeful that this will occur."

Kindopp was a bit disappointed that the Minister of Health had not returned any information, "No word back, and when I say he was interested, he appeared very interested in the proposal. We are looking at an alternative of the standard that is used, which is the community supplies 20% and the government supplies 80%. And then they look after the design and building of it, so we are hoping for any solution to help us with a new residential nursing home as soon as possible."

If the new proposal is accepted, it will save a large sum of money over the next couple of years. Kindopp says he may be biased, "Looking at different facilities and proposals, building a third story onto St. Joseph's Hospital grounds, that would net a savings of 10 million in construction costs. The fact that it would be on the Hospital grounds, where we can utilize the heating of the hospital, the electrical will be provided, the efficiencies of not having to move staff back and forth between the facilities, as well as having to move patients back and forth. We estimate half a million to 600 thousand in savings each year. So that will be 10 million in savings on construction, 500 to 600 thousand of savings in operations cost, and then there is always the maintenance cost on the present building, which is estimated to be around 12 million dollars."

"And if nothing gets done over the next 10 years, that's over 20 million dollars. You add those sums together over the next few years and that will almost pay for a new facility."

The new facility will end up costing 30 million in construction costs if this proposal goes through.