RHA maintains confidence in Rest Haven plans

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This article was published 21/09/2018 (2040 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Southern Health board chair Abe Bergen says he expects an announcement from the province “this fall” regarding long-gestating plans for a 140-bed expansion to Steinbach’s Rest Haven personal care home.

“At the end of the day, we’re waiting for an announcement, and our communication to the minister was, ‘It’s time.’”

Bergen was asked Tuesday for his take on the project’s status in light of comments last week from Earl Funk, a city councillor and mayoral candidate.

Funk told a crowd at the Pat Porter Active Living Centre that “the province’s funding model is not working at this moment,” which is producing challenges he said were relayed to him by HavenGroup CEO David Driedger.

Bergen acknowledged the funding models used by Steinbach and Carman for their respective PCH projects differ, but said both have gained the confidence of Manitoba Health.

“The government has said they are key capital projects, and it’s backed up by good data.”

The provincial government has previously committed roughly $133,000 per bed towards the construction of 1,200 more PCH beds across Manitoba over the next eight years.

The number is much lower than the per-bed construction cost figure used in past PCH projects, which hovered around $450,000.

Bergen said “the realization is that $133 (thousand) isn’t enough” to build PCH beds that meet Canadian standards.

He supposed that was creating an unknown gap in the Steinbach funding model that must be addressed before the overall cost of the project can be tabulated and an announcement can be made.

“The sooner we get that conversation out in the open and address it, the sooner we can start building,” he said.