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There might have been a few loud shouts of joy, or popping of champagne corks, or even deep sighs of relief in Estevan last Tuesday. After all, the provincial budget had an announcement that was long overdue.  

The government committed $275,000 towards the start of planning for a new long-term care facility in Estevan; in other words, it’s a new nursing home.   

It’s not the end of the long journey to bring a new nursing home to Estevan, but it is an important first step in the government finally committing to this project.  

It’s been nearly 15 years since the first discussions of a new regional nursing home for Estevan began in earnest. The Hearthstone Community Campaign began in 2011, with the goal of raising $8 million – projected to be 20 per cent of the new building’s cost.  

The Hearthstone committee reached its goal in January 2015 – an impressive feat to raise $8 million in less than four years.   

Then the waiting game began, as we were inserted into the queue along with other needed long-term care facilities in the province.  

It was no fault of the new nursing home committee that it took six years. They worked very hard to make this facility happen. They came up with different ideas for the project to proceed, methods to save money, and concepts so that the government would give the project its blessing.  

The community was frustrated, but patient, for the most part. They wanted to see the new nursing home happen. Most of them stuck by the project. And donations continued to roll in, even though Hearthstone reached its goal long ago, and even though it was stuck in the limbo of the queue.  

Each year, Estevan’s new nursing home was passed over in favour of other facilities. We’d hear the same stories about how there were other facilities that had a greater need.  

We’re not sure what was more troubling – that we were getting passed over, or that there were other long-term care homes in need of a replacement more than our nursing home.  

The staff members at the current Estevan Regional Nursing Home do a great job in the current facility. They do their best to care for the residents and make the building feel like home. They try to provide the best experience possible for the residents.  

But they’re doing it in an antiquated building that lost its status as modern a long time ago. The standards that were acceptable more than 50 years ago when that building opened have long since been abandoned.  

The announcement in last week’s budget doesn’t mean our new nursing home will be constructed immediately. The planning stage will be extensive. They’ll have to decide on the building’s design. Then they’ll have to construct it.  

We’re still a few years away from residents moving in and having a grand opening ceremony. 

There are so many people who should be thrilled with this announcement, including staff, donors and anyone who might be in the nursing home, or have a loved one in there, in a few years.   

The budget had some other goodies, too. There was money to expand the addictions treatment centre at St. Joseph’s Hospital – a testament to the good work that has been happening at the centre, which opened a little more than six months ago.   

There will be more people receiving care, and more people brought in to work there, too.  

The city of Estevan will receive the money that was committed through municipal operating grants, and there is money for the start-up of a Police and Crisis Team (PACT) involving the Estevan Police Service. It will see police and mental health professionals deployed to assist others in crisis situations.  

And there is money for the completion of passing lanes on Highway 39 from Estevan to Corinne, although passing lanes might not be great news if you’re holding out hope for twinning on that portion of a national highway.  

But the best news in the budget was the start of the process to finally get a new nursing home here.  

It’s the next step in a long process.