Regina Pats trade scoring leader and captain Tanner Howe
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Tanner Howe was was the third youngest captain in the Regina Pats' history.
Things haven’t seemed to change for people currently living at the Regina Lutheran Home after they were told the care home is closing and after they reached out for help.
At the end of last month, it was confirmed to families that the operator, Eden Care, wouldn’t be running it anymore. The residents have reached out to the provincial government, but the Saskatchewan Health Authority said it looked at the situation and declined to take on the home’s operations because the building is at the end of its life.
On Wednesday, a group of friends and family members brought their frustrations to the Legislature and sat in the gallery as the NDP queried the government about the issue during Question Period.
“I came here with a speech prepared, but after sitting in and listening to the minister blame Eden Care for the closure of Regina Lutheran Home, I’m disgusted,” said Val Schalme, whose father and brother both live at the home.
“Eden Care has been running that facility on bare-bones support from the government for many years. They are closing because the government did not provide the necessary financial support to keep this home open. It’s the government that is closing this home.”
Schalme said the building works fine and compared its private rooms and large hallways to the shared rooms and too-narrow hallways in Extendicare buildings, which the health authority did take over.
As Shelley Johnson spoke, she held a picture of 99-year-old Charlotte. Johnson said Charlotte worked on a farm after she immigrated to Saskatchewan and she worked in a hospital for 30 years.
“Charlotte has taken care of the people of Saskatchewan. This government is not taking care of the people of Saskatchewan and least of all not the seniors of Saskatchewan,” said Johnson.
“Where’s the dignity (and) where’s the respect for these elderly people? They didn’t choose to get old, they didn’t choose to get sick (and) they didn’t choose to get cancer. This government needs to stand up for the people and keep this home open.”
Others talked about their family members feeling like the care home is their home and that the employees and residents are like their family. They talked about being worried what a move might do to their loved one’s health or mental health.
They also talked about the lack of care beds, saying they’ve been told about the 600 beds that will be coming on line in Regina, but there is no date for that opening and they said the beds are needed now.
Earlier this month, the health authority explained its decision to not take on the operation of the home.
“Given the current building is at the end of its lifespan, the SHA determined it may require further assessment and potentially significant repair work. All this considered, with work already underway in collaboration with the Ministry of Health to expand LTC capacity in Regina, it was determined buying this building did not fit existing plans at this time,” the SHA said in a statement.
On Wednesday, Minister Responsible for Seniors Tim McLeod couldn’t give the reason, but simply said the SHA determined a plan to take on the home wouldn’t be viable. He added the government and SHA were working with residents and their families on their transition.
Matt Love, the NDP’s critic for seniors, said the government not taking on this facility when it took on the Extendicare facilities doesn’t make any reasonable sense to the average person.
Love also didn’t think much of the explanation offered by the minister.
“If we have a minister who has no understanding of his family, (and who) can’t offer a reasonable explanation to that, then he needs to get his facts straight because these people have been waiting for answers for weeks,” he said.
The residents have been told they have to be out of the home in April of next year.