The chairperson for the new Estevan Regional Nursing Home Committee is in favour of the latest developments with the new Estevan Nursing Home, which indicate that the facility will be roughly twice the size as was initially planned.

"I think it's spot on myself," said committee chair Don Kindopp. "I think the needs assessment recognizes that we had to have additional beds from what we currently have in our community. Because our community is not just the City of Estevan, our community is the surrounding area as well."

Kindopp said the number of beds in Estevan will be increased by about 59 beds over what the city currently has.

"It's going to go up from 108 to 167 as I understand it," he said. "So that was pleasing and surprising."

The needs assessment also calls for palliative care beds to be part of the increase, Kindopp added.

Kindopp said the committee recognizes that there will be new increased costs for the project, given the length of the delay in building the facility in connection with inflation, and from the bed and size increase.

"There will be an additional cost and we will have to recognize that 20 per cent of the new cost will be ours to fundraise," Kindopp said, adding that he's not concerned about needing more money.

"We know what our communities are like and we know that the people in our community are people that recognize the importance of a new nursing facility, and they will rise to the occasion."

Earlier this week, Estevan MLA Lori Carr said the next step in the process is drafting the business plan, in hopes that it will be ready by late fall.

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