Shannex sod-turning 'great day for Kentville'

BY JOHN DECOSTE

jdecoste@kentvilleadvertiser.ca

NovaNewsNow.com

All in attendance at the sod-turning ceremony for the new Shannex continuing care facility in Kentville Wednesday agreed it was a great day for the town and especially for the many seniors in the region requiring long-term care.

Health Minister Chris D’Entremont, Kings North MLA and Environment and Labour Minister Mark Parent, Kentville mayor Dave Corkum and Shannex COO Jason Shannon took part in the sod-turning ceremony at the site located on the former DAR rail lands.

The Kentville facility is one of 11 new long-term care facilities being constructed around the province as part of a $1.2 billion, 1,300-bed government commitment to continuing long-term care.

Halifax-based Shannex Health Care has been awarded the contract to build nine of the facilities, including a similar construction in Greenwich.

“This is a development for all of downtown Kentville and a very big day for us at Shannex,” Shannon said of the 62-bed continuing care facility scheduled to open in Kentville in the fall of 2009.

He thanked the town and Mayor Corkum “for embracing the idea like they have” to locate the new facility on the abandoned rail lands, a decision Shannon termed “a leap of faith for the mayor and his team.”

At the same time, “it also represented a leap of faith for us when we came down here and realized the magnitude of the project” and the impact it is likely to have on the town.

In his remarks, D’Entremont recalled travelling through Kentville by train years ago en route to university. “To take a site like this and redevelop it into a community centre is phenomenal,” he said.

He praised Shannex for taking the government’s commitment to providing 1,300 new continuing care spaces for the province and helping to make it a reality.

Departure and new direction for the province

Opening and full occupancy, he said, “looks like it will happen ahead of schedule,” not only in Kentville, but at the eight other Shannex projects around the province. “You can see the dedication and commitment to see this job done.”

The facility, which will be divided into ‘households’ or clusters of apartments with a residential instead of an institutional feel, represents what D’Entremont described as “as departure and a new direction” for the province in terms of continuing care.

Forty years ago, he said, “we were building low-income housing for our seniors. A lot of today’s seniors require high levels of care. We didn’t want a hospital atmosphere, but rather an accessible atmosphere.”

The Minister added that the new facilities are being built in accordance with the Department of Health’s “new design standards” for long-term care facilities which emphasize smaller and more home-like surroundings.

New way of living for seniors

Shannon noted that Shannex has chosen ‘Building for Better Living’ as the overall theme for the construction of its nine new facilities. “We believe the move to smaller residences with more home-like environments presents a new way of living in communities for seniors who require ongoing assistance with personal care and activities of daily living.”

Corkum said, “not only are we talking 62 additional beds, we’re talking the potential for at least one new full-time job per bed, as well as the potential for another 20 part-time jobs,” resulting in a significant economic spinoff for the town, not to mention “the potential for further development of the rail lands.”

Parent described the construction as “a wonderful addition to the community. We’re so overcrowded at Valley Regional Hospital with long-term patients. This facility, and others like it, will make a wonderful difference.”

Parent also noted the government has initiated a program to provide community college spaces (including 20 at Kingstec) to allow students to complete their GED and a continuing care course at the same time. After all, he pointed out, “not only do we need the beds, we will need workers, too.”