Emokhare Paul Anthony
Daily Herald
The former registered psychiatric nurse hoping to open a new long-term care home for brain injured residents called on provinces of all stripes to properly fund the facility at an open house on Saturday.
Kerrie Elliott spent 27 years in Alberta as a psychiatric nurse, but has returned to her home province of Saskatchewan to open Feather Ridge Care Home in Christopher Lake.
The facility would be a for-profit care home with 10 beds that provides 24-hour care to residents. On Saturday, Elliott put the call out for the necessary funding.
“Feather Ridge is what happens when families wait too long for services that never come,” Elliott told supporters. “This is a day of hope because this is families, this is healthcare professionals …, (and) this is community service groups coming together to say, ‘we can do better, and we need to do better for these families.’”
Feather Ridge will offer 24-hour care to adults ages 18-55. Elliott is seeking provincial funding to cover operating costs, but $63/day to pay staff and cover unexpected capital costs. The home will operate on a profit sharing model with employees.
Elliott said opening the home hasn’t been easy.
I’ve had my hand slapped,” she said. “I’m doing this backwards. You’re supposed to sit back and wait. The government puts out a tender of what they want, and then you bid, and that’s not what we’re doing. This is what happens when people come together and we start demanding the services.”
While working as a nurse, Elliott observed a gap in services for patients who required 24-hour care. She felt for the patients, many of which were adults with high medical needs, disabilities, or brain injuries. She also felt for their families.
She purchased the building in Christopher Lake, 40 kilometres north of Prince Albert, from her mum who built it 20 years ago. This home was formerly a personal care home with 10 beds.
While government support has been hard to come by, Elliott said support from the Royal Purple Association has been much more forthcoming. The organization has committed $9,500 for lifts and physio-mats to help residents exercise.
Canadian Royal Purple of Saskatchewan charity partnership chair Sandi Lougheed said supporting the facility was an easy decision.
“We have an opportunity in Saskatchewan to make a difference, and yes, it’s a difference for 10 people inside this building, but it is only the beginning,” she said. “We don’t always have to be at the end of the development. Once in a while, Saskatchewan gets an opportunity to be leaders.”
The Royal Purple have been strong supporters of a number of brain injury-related causes. Lougheed said they’re particularly concerned about young patients, many of which currently have to live in seniors homes.
“That is not fair no matter what politics you have, no matter what kind of healthcare you have, that is not fair,” she said.
Currently, the facility has a waiting list of 18 people, with six families who heard about it just by word of mouth. Elliott said the health region has also identified 12 families with children who have varying degrees of brain injuries who might need the space in the future.
Despite the challenges, Elliott is optimistic the funding will come through.
“Hope is hard when it’s one person,” she said. “It’s like holding candle. It’s easily put out, but then that little candle lights another one, and then another one and then another one, and then it’s unstoppable.”
Several families were in attendance for Saturday’s open house, including Sylvie Fortier-Kot from Saskatoon. Kot is the mother of a 13 year old child with a brain injury, and said the new facility would be welcome.
“l like how (Elliott) used the word hope because that is what we families that are going through,” she said. “All of us have hope for Feather Ridge.”
