SUDBURY—With a motion having been passed by the board of St. Joseph’s Health Centre in support of moving ahead with the plans for a new 64-bed nursing home in Gore Bay, applications for approval will now be carried out and forwarded to the province.
“Our board had a great discussion and everyone is in support of the project and in helping and supporting the community of Gore Bay,” said Kari Gervais, president and chief executive officer of St. Joseph’s Health Centre after its board met on Thursday of last week. “We are moving ahead with making an application to the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care for approvals.”
“As part of the process, this motion of approval was needed by the board to support the project and go ahead with the planning application,” said Ms. Gervais.
“Obviously we are very pleased this has been approved (by the St. Joseph’s Health Centre board),” stated Gore Bay mayor Ron Lane. “This is another big step toward the final outcome, and we are very happy with this approval.”
As was reported in the November 22 edition of The Expositor, plans were presented to all stakeholders that would see a new 64 bed long-term care nursing home in Gore Bay tentatively open in 2026 in a new location (with access off Armstrong Street). Once the new nursing home is open, the municipality would then own the Manitoulin Lodge building and would decide at that time what the building will be used for in the future. It is not expected that the new nursing home will be ready by June 2025, so St. Joseph’s will phase in after June 2025 (when the current licence for the Lodge, operated by Jarlette Health Services) will expire and the new operator will be St. Joseph’s Health Centre. And by mid-2026 when the new long-term care nursing home is ready to open, the whole operation transitions to it. Then the Town of Gore Bay will be the owner of the existing Manitoulin Lodge building.
“I don’t know what the response time will be from the ministry on the approved motion at this point,” said Ms. Gervais. “The way the approval process works is that there are three steps involved, and each step is a little more detailed.” She pointed out at the meeting with Manitoulin Lodge stakeholders, employees, residents, families and town representatives in November, Louis Belanger of Belanger Salach Architecture Sudbury outlined the first draft of plans for the original build of 64 beds, which could be expanded to 96 beds as and when needed. “As part of the process this first draft needed to provide stakeholder feedback. And now a more detailed design will be undertaken based on the feedback that was provided by stakeholders.”
“There is a lot of work ahead to be done, but we are really excited to be submitting an application for approval for the proposal-plan to the ministry (this week),” added Ms. Gervais.
