Construction is set to begin for the F.W. Green home expansion in Cranbrook that will add an additional 88 long-term care beds.
The Ktunaxa Nation conducted a tobacco blessing before the ground breaking this morning.
Lower Kootenay Band Chief Jason Louie said the ceremony is about giving back to the land
“It was fitting that we offer a prayer to the land and I did share a story with the audience about how we can not keep talking from the land without giving back,” he said.
“Since time in memorial, everything we have done as Ktunaxa people, whether it was harvesting and animal, roots or berries, we give back through tobacco.”
East Kootenay Hospital District chair David Wilks said it’s great to see the project reach this point after years of fighting for it.
“It’s been a long time coming. It’s been well over 10 years since this process started, working with various ministers of health and we’ve got it across the finish line. It will be a great benefit to the entire region,” he said.
“I’m really looking forward to seeing it start to develop here. The hardest part was convincing Interior Health that it could be done. I remember talking to the senior leadership at IH and they said there’s no way you’ll get this and I said you watch me.”
There had been talk about having multiple smaller facilities spread around the East Kootenay instead of one large facility, but ultimately the F.W. Green Home expansion was chosen.
Interim Interior Health CEO Sylvia Weir said the larger facility has its benefits, including staffing.
“This provides local access to care but it also provides the benefit that a larger facility can have and that is interactions between the residents but also critical staffing,” she said.
“We need to attract staffing and this is a community we can attract staff to.”
The four-story complex has a total project price tag of $232 million and will have 150 beds.
Phase 1 is expected to be done in 2027, allowing all existing residents to relocate to the new facility. After that, Phase 2 is expected to accept new residents in 2029.
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