Peace Villa third house moves closer to reality, SONS thrilled with announcement
For more than a decade, seniors in the North Peace have been waiting for the third house at the Peace Villa long-term care facility to be built. Last week, that need moved a little closer to reality.
In a Facebook post on June 19, Minister of Infrastructure Bowinn Ma announced that the business case for the third “pod” at Peace Villa had been approved and the government would soon be seeking bids for its construction.
“The business case has been approved, and the project will be going to procurement on BC Bid shortly,” said Ma in her post. “Grateful to the Peace River Regional Hospital District (PRRHD) for their partnership on this project.”
Ma’s post said that the new facility will include 84 beds, private single bedrooms and bathrooms, social and recreational space and a 30-space adult day program.
“SONS was absolutely thrilled to hear the news about the care home, it’s been a long time coming, every corner of our community has advocated for the long-term care home,” said Margaret Little, president of Save Our Northern Seniors (SONS).
Little says that her organization has been advocating for the third house at Peace Villa since before the facility opened in 2012.
“The long-term vision for the third house, or third pod as they’re calling it has always been there. It’s a matter of when they were going to do it. We’ve been advocating that for a number of years, when Jean Leahy was the president. And we’ve been wanting to have the third house because we told them the day that Peace Villa opened, that it was going to be full and have a waiting list,” Little said.
“It was true, there was.”
Everyday, Little says, there are people being brought into the hospital who cannot cope at home, cannot look after themselves and are being admitted to hospital to wait to get into Peace Villa.
“Those [people] that are waiting for a bed, for a room in Peace Villa, are in there, while people in Emergency can’t get into a room. People who need operations need a room; it’s a vicious circle."
“The hospital is not a place for people who don’t need acute care attention.”
The announcement gave rise to concerns that there would not be enough staff available for the facility, but Little says that she sees the third “pod” and the need for more staff as an opportunity for local young people. Education, recruitment and retention of healthcare staff has always been one of SONS’ platforms, she added.
“I see this as an opportunity. We’re going to have the 85 beds, we’re going to have the 30-space adult day program, and it’s an opportunity for us to provide more education for our young people.”
It will take some time for the third house to be built, which Little believes gives School District 60, Northern Lights College and UNBC time to create more courses and encourage young people in the schools to seriously consider healthcare careers in Fort St. John.
Little believes the staff will come. Right now, in all areas of healthcare in Fort St. John “there’s not enough people to go around. We just have to work on that aspect of encouraging people into the healthcare system and providing opportunities for them.”
“That’s why it’s so important to have Northern Lights College, School District 60 and UNBC all working together on different programs that we can provide for our students.”
The community has very forward-thinking people in it, people who know what the community needs and where it wants to go, Little said. Those who have long advocated for the third house at Peace Villa are an excellent example of what a community can do when it works together.
The 84 beds could be full the day we get them, Little says, but that’s 84 beds that weren’t there yesterday.
“[Thursday’s] announcement was a good example of what a community can put together. It takes a whole village to raise a child, it takes a whole village to gain success like we did,” she said.