There will be no appeal or reversal of the Broadacres decision, according to Interior Health (IH) authorities, who met with Boundary residents last week.
Cindy Kozak-Campbell, residential health services administrator for Interior Health East, tried to explain the process that lead up to the decision to go with Golden Life Management.
“Golden Life is able to provide the 40 beds that we requested and will have had higher scoring when we look at things like their staffing schedule, their range of services, their care model, their organization standards,” Kozak-Campbell said. “Golden Life scored the highest of the four (proponents).”
Kozak-Campbell said that by IH’s requirements, Golden Life had scored higher than Broadacres in some key areas and that was how the decision was made.
Residents of the Boundary, including Mayor Brian Taylor, the mayors of Greenwood and Midway, city Councillor Christine Thompson and Broadacres proprietor Rod Gustafson, attended the meeting.
Frustration was evident during the meeting, as advocates for the use of the Broadacres facility felt that it is being wasted at the moment.
One concern, voiced by Laura Lodder, was that not only did she feel Broadacres had been overlooked in the way of the 40 care beds that were up for contract, it had also been overlooked for the short-term beds needed up until the completion of the Golden Life facility.
This is estimated for next year.
Kozak-Campbell said that the short-term beds would benefit the hospital because they will become acute care beds after the renovations are complete.
She also added that though IH would not be using Gustafson’s facility, the 40-bed Golden Life facility that’s coming into Grand Forks would be beneficial to the community.
Gustafson had originally planned to have only a 10-bed facility, but the IH contract called for 40 beds, prompting a question of whether IH could’ve spread the 40-beds around.
“We do need someone to provide the full 40,” Kozak-Campbell said.
“To go less than 30 means that it’s not financially viable for people.”
Mayor Brian Taylor suggested that one of the possible uses for Broadacres could be a drug rehab but it would likely have to be a private facility.
Taylor said that a facility such as that was one of the most pressing needs in the city.