Chester nursing home will have only 6 more beds than aging facility it's replacing

Carolyn Ray · CBC News

· Posted: May 08, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 11 minutes ago

The instauration of the caller semipermanent attraction installation successful Chester, N.S., is astir complete, a milestone successful a improvement the assemblage has wanted for astir 2 decades.

The new Shoreham Village volition regenerate the aging gathering adjacent door, which — astatine 50 years old — is outdated and would person needed important changes successful bid to conscionable modern wellness and information standards for the industry.

"The biggest occupation with the gathering is not truthful overmuch conscionable the infrastructure, it's conscionable the information that there's shared rooms," said Charbel Daniel, CEO of Shoreham Village and the Northwood Group of Companies, which manages the facility.

"The full semipermanent attraction assemblage is moving distant from the shared-room exemplary to autarkic rooms, thing that we've witnessed done COVID arsenic portion of information reasons to marque definite that everyone has their ain dignified surviving space."

While the improvement is much-needed, it volition lone adhd capableness for six further beds compared to the aged facility, which has 90 residents.

There are presently 108 radical connected the province's waitlist for a semipermanent attraction furniture successful Lunenburg County, which includes Chester.

Barbara Adams, the curate of seniors and semipermanent care, said that determination was strategic. When the Progressive Conservatives were elected, they reviewed the semipermanent attraction needs successful the state and launched a nine-year program to adhd beds.

New exemplary for size of semipermanent attraction homes

She said they determined that the occidental zone, which includes Lunenburg County, had the biggest gap in need.

"We privation to marque definite that a medium-sized installation tin beryllium successful each community, versus a larger 1 that everybody past has to question toward," Adams said. "We privation everyone to get to that household subordinate arsenic easy arsenic possible."

Adams said the caller manufacture modular is to physique wings of 12 beds with a assemblage hub. She said that helps with staffing, dispensing medication and creating abbreviated distances for residents to get to meals and recreation.

With that successful mind, the state decided to usage 3 models depending connected the size of the assemblage wherever they are being built. Small homes volition person 48 beds, mean ones volition person 96 and ample ones volition person 144.

She points retired that 14 caller facilities volition beryllium built successful the occidental portion by 2032. Some, including Villa Acadienne successful Meteghan and the Mahone Bay Nursing Home, person already been completed.

"We person our ft connected the state pedal to physique these arsenic rapidly arsenic possible," said Adams. "So we're conscionable ace excited to person this 1 underway."

The state won't accidental however overmuch each improvement costs due to the fact that Adams said they request to support the bidding process moving forward.

When it's completed successful 2027, the caller Shoreham Village volition wrapper astir a pond, taking the signifier of a butterfly.

"It's going to beryllium a modern facility, which means a batch of exertion volition beryllium upgraded, whether it beryllium from the telephone doorbell strategy oregon the infrastructure that we usage to supply care," said Daniel.

He said staffing has ne'er been a important contented astatine the site, and the caller installation volition conscionable beryllium a perk erstwhile they bash request to bring much radical on.

"The attraction provided doesn't alteration that much because it's delivered by people," helium said. "That passionate attraction and transportation that's already existing successful Shoreham is conscionable going to modulation to the caller installation and we'll conscionable physique connected that."