Long-term care residents in Sydney, N.S., still waiting for new home

A replacement for a Sydney, N.S., nursing home has been delayed.

The MacGillivray Guest Home in Sydney, N.S., first opened in 1967. In January of 2021 the provincial government said it would be replaced.

Frank Howell is the chair of the board of directors at the long-term care facility. He said they are still waiting for construction to begin, four years after the province made its commitment. He said the living spaces built in the 1960’s don’t meet today’s standards - especially those put in place after the COVID-19 pandemic.

“With all the regulations saying ‘Oh, you’ve got to have separate rooms, you’ve got to have separate bathrooms,” Howell said. “We’ve got double rooms. We’ve got residents sharing bathrooms. These types of things need to be taken care of.”

The MacGillivray Guest Home’s board of directors said they were told the new build might be delayed by as much two more years.

Nova Scotia’s Minister of Seniors and Long-Term Care, Barbara Adams, said a skilled labour shortage in the Sydney area has made the tender process more difficult and caused delays.

“Unfortunately, there was only one bid that came in and it was significantly over-budget,” Adams said. “There’s a large number of construction projects going on in Cape Breton but we want Nova Scotians, especially those waiting for that new facility, to know we are absolutely committed to that facility.”

Interim Nova Scotia Liberal leader Derek Mombourquette - who was the area’s MLA and part of the initial announcement - said he has been talking with trade unions and hopes construction can start in the next year.

“I want to look at the other projects that are under construction,” Mombourquette said. “Were they on budget? Did they have multiple bids come in? So we’ll ask a lot of these questions to the government as we go forward.”

Howell suggested putting out separate tenders for different phases of the project - rather than one tender for the whole build – in hopes it would move the project along.

“Everybody has worked so hard on this new home, and we see other homes continuing on with their construction and we’re being held back,” he said.

Howell said construction of a new MacGillivray Guest Home - whenever it begins - it expected to take about three years.

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