Grenfell woman says town really needs new long-term care centre

A Grenfell woman is hoping a new care home in the community will help keep people in the town.

Leslie McGhie said the town really needs a new home.

“We have lost so many residents moving to the city due to the nursing home closing and the jobs being lost. It’s been very detrimental to our community … We are an elderly community so we’re losing residents all the time to the city for healthcare purposes,” explained McGhie.

On Tuesday, the provincial government announced a commitment to building a new long-term care home in Grenfell, as well as a new one in La Ronge.

McGhie said there isn’t much for healthcare in the area right now. The care home closed in 2018, the Grenfell hospital closed in the 90s, and the ER at the next closest hospital in Wolseley closes periodically. There is a health centre in the town, but McGhie said it’s going downhill.

She said the care home announcement is good news, and the fact it’s supposed to be built within three years, but she is a bit skeptical. She said over the years they were been told the old home was closing and then it didn’t for a long time, and when it did finally close it felt out of the blue.

“It seems like now that it’s election time, they seem to now want to start doing something,” said McGhie.

She also worried that if the Wolseley ER were to close permanently, and Grenfell’s doctor were to leave because of it, then the decision to build a new home in Grenfell could be reversed.