Health Minister Kelvin Goertzen Aims To Increase Care Home Beds

Health Minister Kelvin Goertzen says the Premier has given him clear direction on how to proceed with developing more personal care home beds in Manitoba. Goertzen says Premier Brian Pallister has tasked him with adding a significant number of PCH beds in short order and to do so using funding partnerships.

"He's made it a priority in asking that 1,200 personal care home beds be built over the next eight years but also that they have to be done in a way that the government and the people of Manitoba can afford. And, that means building partnerships. So, the Niverville model was contemplated on a building that was built privately or built partly with the community's support and then, operationally, it was funded by the provincial government. So that is the model that I've been directed to use. Of course there will be variations with different communities and with different parts of Manitoba, we understand that, but the general model is to ensure that we have partnerships to achieve this goal."

Goertzen says the Niverville funding model will apply to a proposed 60 bed expansion of the Rest Haven Nursing Home in Steinbach. The Bethesda Foundation has committed to paying the ten per cent community contribution (under the old funding model) toward the estimated $30 million project. But Goertzen says, under the new funding model, significantly more local dollars would be required.

"It would be more than just simply a ten per cent community contribution. It would be more of a partnership with those who might want to help build the building and then have operational funding provided by the government. So the Niverville model contemplated a broader community contribution in terms of who owns the building, how it gets built. I know that there's been great interest from the City of Steinbach and the municipal officials have talked about being motivated to see this happen. We know that it's a creative community. It's the kind of community that I know can come up with good, creative suggestions in terms of working in a partnership and I look forward to hearing those suggestions."

Goertzen says developing more personal care home beds is a priority for the government and for many Manitobans. He adds there are far too many people who, after spending most of of their lives in a community and helping to build it, are forced to go to another community when the time comes that they need a personal care home bed.