wall long term

Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall makes the announcement today

The province is taking another step towards replacing our three outdated buildings with a new long-term care facility in Swift Current.

Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall announced that the Cypress Health Region will conduct an open process asking for expressions of interest for the construction.

The new facility would be built near the Cypress Regional Hospital as part of a larger Integrated Facility concept.

"I've really heard from constituents on it for some time," said Swift Current's MLA. "Often it's family members of those who are patients. Invariably there's two elements to their phone call or letter or email to me; one, the health care professionals are fantastic, two, the facilities are not." 

The new facility would contain an estimated 225 beds, an increase on the 198 total beds our city has between the Palliser Regional Care Centre, the Swift Current Care Centre and the Prairie Pioneers Lodge.

"We're going to make sure it's designed to meet that need," said Wall.  

He pegs the cost at upwards of $60 million dollars and the city will be responsible for 20% of that budget. 

 Wall is hoping construction would start sometime in 2013.



Interview with Premier Brad Wall:


Interview with Mayor Jerrod Schafer:


Interview with Cypress Health Region CEO Beth Vachon:
       
  
The press release from the Provincial Government follows:

Premier Brad Wall announced today that the provincial government is moving forward on the next phase to replace three aging long-term care homes built in Swift Current in the 1950s and 1960s.

"The replacement of the Palliser Regional Care Centre, the Swift Current Care Centre and the Prairie Pioneers Lodge has been a priority for the people of Swift Current and for me as the local MLA for a long time," Wall said.

The Cypress Health Region will conduct an open process asking for expressions of interest for the construction of a new state-of-the-art, standard-of-care long-term care facility in Swift Current.

"The new facility will offer an increase in total beds and the efficiency and convenience of a co-location at the site of the hospital," Wall said.

The three existing long-term care homes in Swift Current are at the end of their useful life: Swift Current Care Centre (built in 1966), Prairie Pioneer Lodge (1957) and Palliser Regional Care Centre (1963). In 2009, the provincial government provided $450,000 to the Cypress Health Region to create a capital plan for the replacement of the three existing facilities which currently represent a total of 198 beds.

Residents, their family members and staff will be included in "Lean technique" continuous improvement planning to ensure the facility is designed to reduce wasted effort and free up staff to better meet the needs of residents. That same Lean process has saved millions of dollars and improved the design of the Children's Hospital project currently underway in Saskatoon.

Once expressions of interest are received, the Cypress Health Region and the Ministry of Health will proceed with an open request for proposals. Partnerships where third party agencies provide buildings under contract to health regions are common in the long-term care sector.

"We have for years had a blend of government and non-government agencies involved in long term care in the province," Wall said. "This expression of interest is the beginning of a process to build on that tradition and construct a brand new long term care facility in Swift Current."