Planning for the new, larger H.J. McFarland Memorial Home in Picton is moving along.
Plans for redeveloping the long term care facility have been in the works for several years and in 2019 the province approved an additional 76 beds for the existing 84-bed home.
Executive Director Kyle Cotton updated Prince Edward County’s Committee of the Whole on Thursday, telling council they’re getting ready for the site selection stage of the process.
“The County owns four acres in which the home will be redeveloped. The site selection hasn’t actually occurred yet. We’re going to go through some extensive consultations with existing residents and their families and some external stakeholders prior to actually finalizing the site.”
The cost will be shared by the municipality and the Ministry of Long Term Care.
“Our early estimations are in and around $50 to $80 million depending on what the home is going to look like, the size, space allocations, equipment purchasing, those types of things.”
The pandemic will likely have an effect on how the new facility will be designed.
“There’s been some injections of funds from the province related to heating, ventilation and air conditioning units, making sure that there’s dedicated pathways for soiled and clean laundry and linen. Of course, sourcing PPE, storage. Those types of things are struggles that the homes have found creative solutions for. So I think that it’s gonna be things we will consider for sure. Lessons learned, experiences, those types of things. So when we do our consultation we’ll take all of these opportunities to learn from our experiences and apply them into the new development.”
The new home is expected to be ready by 2025.
