Provincial funding changes to build long-term care facilities are being called “a game changer” by MICs health services group CEO and long-term care administrator Paul Chatelain.
It means the new South Centennial Manor will finally be under construction by next spring, behind Anson General Hospital in Iroquois Falls.
For SCM, it means $467,500 per bed. The construction cost is $600,000 per bed.
“We still have a shortfall,” Chatelain acknowledges. “The gap is closing in because I guess the ministry realizes that the costs have gone up for construction, hence the redevelopment of the new model.”
What particularly makes the new funding formula a game changer, says Chatelain, is that all provincial money will be received by the end of construction.
“So we don’t have to wait for 25 years, like the last model. So this is great news. It reduces the amount of loan that we’re going to have to get and we’ll just basically get a loan to cover the shortfall.”
Chatelain is confident donors will make up much of the $12-million gap.
