I recently attended a long-awaited meeting on March 7 at the Sundre Hospital and Care Centre regarding the future of our long-term care wing and if and when the residents will be moving to the new Mountain View Seniors' Housing facility.
I was surprised to learn ó as were many ó that Sundre in essence will actually be losing our long-term care facility. Depending on the level of care that is assigned to our loved ones, that will determine if they go to the new facility or not.
Most of our patients at this time will be suitable, but sadly a few are not, and will no longer remain in our community as we will no longer have a long-term care facility. These patients will be sent to bigger centres that can accommodate them. This will also result in the possibility of more than 20 staff members losing jobs from our Sundre hospital. The 15 beds in our current long-term care facility will not be replaced with more acute care beds.
I was under the belief that once people were accepted into the new facility they would not ever be required to move again. I have since learned that if your needs increase significantly, you will be moved out of the community to a facility that can accept you.
For those who bought into the life-lease type option, sadly if your needs increase beyond an SL4 (supportive living 4) level, you too will be moved out of the building. It's a very sad day for Sundre, and I encourage everyone to pay attention to meetings that I am sure will be announced concerning this. This was a call made by Alberta Health Services, not members of our community or Mountain View Seniors' Housing.
Please forward emails or concerns to the Alberta health minister or your MLA.
Brenda Werk
Sundre area
