NORTHAM
A crowd of over 40 Tyne Valley and area residents gave overwhelming endorsement Tuesday night to a Stewart Memorial Hospital Foundation proposal to turn their former hospital building into a community care facility, once it ceases to be a manor.
The building on the top of the hill in Tyne Valley had served as a hospital from the time it opened in 1951 until 2013 when the entire building became a manor.
Residents and staff are now preparing to relocate to a new manor which is nearing completion within viewing distance.
Once that happens this fall, the old Stewart Memorial will become a government surplus building.
Thelma Phillips, secretary of the Stewart Memorial Hospital Foundation told the organization’s annual meeting Tuesday night at the Northam Community Centre the foundation has been working on a proposal to turn the building into a community care facility pretty well from the time it became a foundation without a hospital.
She noted community members gave them a mandate at their 2014 annual meeting to continue working on a proposal.
With the provincial government having issued a call for proposals from not-for-profit groups interested in the building this spring, the Stewart Memorial Foundation expressed its interest.
Foundation chair, John Colwill, reported the organization has been very active on the file.
They were in contact with 11 community care facilities Crapaud west and discussed the demand for beds.
“I think we were all amazed how much they wanted to support this project,” he said in describing the facilities’ support.
Ken Montgomery said the Stewart Memorial is spacious, bright and solidly constructed, but he acknowledged it would require some renovations.
He provided a rough estimate of $600,000, but stressed a new study would need to be carried out.
Keith Milligan, who chaired Tuesday’s meeting, indicated the foundation would be applying for government funding to assist with the renovations if it is awarded the building.
Foundation member Donna MacKendrick, who ran the former Valley Lodge, a 12-bed community care facility, pointed to studies that suggest it takes at least 30 community care beds to be feasible.
MacKendrick said the facility would be community-owned but run by a professional group, possibly a cooperative.
She said the foundation is proposing at least 30 single rooms with private baths, providing Level 3 care on the upper level and Level 2 care on the lower level.
Operating costs for a 30-bed facility were estimated at $720,000 including $540,000 in wages and benefits for 15 workers. “Fifteen jobs in an area like ours is a pretty impressive objective to work towards,” said Milligan.
Revenues from Community Care beds were estimated at $740,000. Milligan noted some of that revenue would be in the form of government subsidization, which would be required wherever the beds are provided.
Milligan emphasized the importance of having a community care facility in the community.
“Every little thing we can do to support something like a community care facility that not only has 15 people travelling to work each day but, also, all the people who come to visit their parents, the volunteers, etc., they create traffic in community and they make things work.”
It is also one of the boxes that gets checked when people consider moving to a community, he noted.
Foremost on the mind of area resident Doreen Wooder was whether having a community care facility would help attract a doctor to the region. Milligan said he didn’t know. Wooder would continue to press the doctor issue during a subsequent discussion with Health Minister Robert Mitchell.
Gordon Wooder moved a motion, which got unanimous support, for the Foundation to continue its efforts to obtain the former hospital building.
Transportation, Infrastructure and Energy minister Paula Biggar, whose riding takes in the Stewart Memorial Home, commended the foundation for its work on the file.
