Rainycrest stands firm on special needs unit

As Rainycrest Home for the Aged awaits word from the Ministry of Health on the status of its proposal for a special needs unit here, administration remains certain the addition will go ahead–one way or another.
“Our job is to meet the needs of district seniors, and whether we get help from the government or not, we’ll help out seniors,” Rainycrest administrator Kevin Queen pledged yesterday.
Queen has been waiting to get a meeting with Stan Kunto, health care program co-ordinator, since he made a presentation to ministry reps Lou Bottos and Vera Gallagher on Oct. 28. in Kenora.
After losing 33 beds to the Rainy River and Emo hospitals, the Northwestern Ontario District Health Council told Queen the ministry was allocating 64 new beds across Kenora-Rainy River District, and suggested he submit a proposal to get some of them here.
Since then, Rainycrest has been aiming to get 32 beds for a unit built especially for its cognitively-impaired residents. (Three other homes–two in Kenora and one in Red Lake–also are competing for a share of the 64 beds being made available).
Although ministry funding is vital if Rainycrest were to build the unit the way it’s been proposed, including a new wing, Queen stressed the importance of the unit would see it built regardless.
“One way or another, we will be doing something. This unit is a very important service for seniors,” he stressed.
As well, the unit would mean a recoup of at least some of the 12.5 percent in job cuts announced last month at Rainycrest, which are slated to take effect Jan. 10.
Still, Queen admitted moving ahead without provincial funding wouldn’t be easy.
“It takes time. We would have to develop a contingency plan to make it happen,” he explained. “But I do know we wouldn’t be building another wing–we would have to work with what we have.”
In the meantime, Queen, who previously expected to hear from the ministry by late November on a meeting with Kunto, said the status of their proposal remains a mystery.
“We have no knowledge of what is happening. We haven’t heard anything officially from the ministry [of health] but we are still hopeful,” he remarked.
“Now, I guess it’s a waiting game to see what the government’s doing.”
The ministry is expected to make its decision on the bed allocation in January.