Reason behind Sagebrush closing.

The recent announcement by Interior Health (IH) that a new residential care bed/assisted living facility will be up and running in Osoyoos in two years time was met with mixed reactions.
A new facility is still in the early planning stages, but questions have already been raised about the future of Sagebrush Lodge, the existing facility which is being managed by IH, and its 90 full- and part-time employees.
IH has stated they would be closing Sagebrush Lodge once the new facility is built, and they are seeking a public/private partnership for the new facility.
Interior Health Authority spokesman Chris Mazurkewich spoke to council last Monday night about the proposed development.
Essentially, what Interior Health is proposing is the development of 104 residential beds and 10 assisted living beds. The facility will also do community meal services and adult day programs, said Mazurkewich.
He explained that a request for proposals is now out and due March 6. Negotiations with the preferred candidate will follow, with construction due to begin this spring and to be completed by June 2008.
We hope to have a new facility opened to serve the people of Osoyoos, doubling the current capacity that we have, and are also planning some assisted living units for residents who do not require 24-hour nursing care, said Mazurkewich.
Mayor John Slater asked Mazurkewich if a property for the new facility had been identified.
In Osoyoos we don't have a lot of properties that would facilitate a project of this size. I think your timelines may be a little tight because I know there's no property that someone could just make an offer on today. Has that been checked out by Interior Health? Slater asked.
Mazurkewich said IH did not have a property secured for a new facility.
We don't check out the land base before we go in [to an area]. We know in some of our communities it's problematic, but because this is a partnership, that responsibility lies with the vendors who bid, said Mazurkewich.
He added IH has talked with different municipalities about what their zoning requirements are and how they could facilitate the process if they wanted to see it happen faster.
Slater pointed out that rezonings and OCP changes are one issue, however dealing with the Agricultural Land Commission would involve much more bureaucracy.
Mazurkewich said if there was no land available for a developer to build on, the extra beds would not come to Osoyoos and IH would look at a neighbouring community like Oliver.
Slater said he was sure Osoyoos needed the extra beds and asked Mazurkewich if IH would look at the demographics again in two years to determine if Sagebrush Lodge would also be needed as a care facility.
He stressed that a lot of donations from the community helped to create Sagebrush Lodge, and that the community feels protective of it.
If demographics showed we needed it, we may keep it open. We've done that in some places. That's why when people have asked us what's going to happen with Sagebrush, we've said we can't predict the future, Mazurkewich said.
Our board policy states that we check whether we would have a use for it internally. Next, we look at our funding partner, the regional hospital district and ask if they have a use for the facility. Then we look at non-profit agencies that may be contracted with us.
As for the issue of job losses, Mazurkewich explained what has happened in the past with similar developments is that IH staff do go on to work at the new facility. He also said approximately a third of the nurses employed by Interior Health are eligible to retire within the next 12 months.
Councillor Dick Flintoft, who has been outspoken and critical of the closure of Sagebrush Lodge, said he understood the current employees, which include his wife, will be facing job losses at the end of two years.
It's my understanding that their wages and benefits are not portable to the new facility. It's also my understanding that employees can 'bump' into Oliver and other places to take jobs from other people with less seniority, said Flintoft, adding that ultimately it means those people will be out of work or displaced by the closure in Osoyoos.
Mazurkewich said he disagreed with Flintoft's argument that there would be a significant number of jobs lost, based on his experience with other care facility closures.
The B.C. Nurses Union and the Hospital Employees Union have strong collective agreements with all kinds of rights. Our experience has been that very seldom will we have part- and full-time permanent employees out of a job, said Mazurkewich.
He added that programs are also in place to retrain nurses so they can transition from working in a residential facility to a hospital.
Councillor Allan Carswell asked Mazurkewich to clarify his statement about the closure of Sagebrush Lodge.
We're saying to people that our projection at this point in time is that once we have the new facility built, it should be enough. But if the demand is there, then we would look at keeping it open, Mazurkewich said.