Sod turned for AR nursing home addition

By Lawrence Powell

The Spectator

NovaNewsNow.com

Construction began last week on a new 12-bed addition to Annapolis Royal Nursing Home, and the doors could be open as early as June if all goes well.

Brian MacLeod, of nursing home owners MacLeod Group, was on hand Thursday, Dec. 8 for a sod-turning ceremony in front of a gathering of dignitaries, nursing home staff, and construction, architectural, and engineering contractors.

Florence Wolfe, the former owner of the Annapolis Royal Nursing Home, joined MacLeod and Annapolis County Warden Peter Newton in turning the first sod in a snow-cleared patch. Nearby an excavator was doing the actual ground-breaking work.

J.W. Lindsay Enterprises Limited was hired by MacLeod Group to carry out construction after architects Nycum & Associates designed the new state-of-the-art wing.

Besides Newton and Wolfe, Annapolis MLA Stephen McNeil, Annapolis Royal deputy mayor Jane DeWolfe, councilors from both the town and the county, and at least one provincial government official were at Thursday’s milestone event. The home’s administrator, Linda Bailey, co-ordinated the event.

The new facility has been described by MacLeod and architect Benjie Nycum as being more like a real home and less like an institution -- while at the same time able to provide the highest level of nursing care.

“We have done extensive research into practices in other parts of the country and outside the country, to find new and better ways to build facilities and care for those who are within,” MacLeod said last summer when he announced the design and construction schedule.

At that time MacLeod said residents in the new wing, or ‘pod,’ will live together as a group, or household as opposed to being just one person among 50 or 60.

Rooms will be private with more space than the traditional standard and rooms will be grouped around a common area that will include a kitchen, living room, and a spa-like bathing area complete with fireplace.

The group of 12 rooms will be connected to the front of the current facility, filling much of what is now the parking lot on Highway 8. It will include a separate entrance from the rest of the building, and a garden space accessible by all residents.

Layout of the addition has been done in such a way as to cut travel distances for residents who will be able to reach all areas of the pod in as little as 50 to 75 feet. During a power-point presentation last summer Nycum said the pod concept makes living more ‘homelike,’ and natural lighting has been designed for ambience and energy efficiency, and the whole common area will be climate controlled.

He said the idea of the traditional nursing station has been abandoned. Instead, nursing activities have been broken up into smaller locations throughout the common area. Additionally, there will be a staff area, laundry area, utility room, and storage room.

MacLeod Group purchased a neighbouring property to enable the project to provide adequate parking and vehicle movement.

MacLeod said no residents will be disturbed or uprooted during the building process, a promise he re-iterated on Thursday, assuring those present that his company has extensive experience renovating nursing homes with residents in place.

In mid-April of 2008, MacLeod Group and Nycum staff, visited a new complex in Oshkosh, Wisconsin that employs a similar ‘pod’ concept where nursing home staff does a wider range of care for a small group of residents.

“This way, small groups of residents and staff see each other more often and get more used to each other,” MacLeod said. “We are designing our new facilities to reflect this way of thinking, and allow us to implement as much of this approach as we decide is appropriate for our residents and staff.”

MacLeod Group owns and operates six nursing homes in Nova Scotia and employs more than 600 people.