Money found.
Desert Valley Care will not be closing its doors after all, owners announced last week. We have turned it around, said co-owner Gord Zelco.
We have worked with Interior Health over the past couple of weeks, since we announced the shutdown. Through Bill Barisoff's office, we had our initial meeting with the decision-makers, and those people made the decision to fund the facility.rnThe owners of the privately-owned care facility said it was what they had been trying to achieve since Desert Valley Care opened in 2002. Seeing the need for more care beds in the South Okanagan, and believing the province would be helping to fund those beds, encouraged the owners to open Desert Valley Care.
But after three-and-a-half years, the owners could no longer continue subsidizing the enterprise and announced the doors would close February 28. That announcement also meant that the facility's six residents would have to find somewhere else to go and all its 10 staff would be out of jobs.
As of last Friday, negotiations between the owners and Interior Health (IH) resulted in Desert Valley Care receiving full funding.
We put everything together they needed and will also be making a few minor modifications to accommodate the different levels of care at the facility. All the residents and staff will remain, Zelco explained. In terms of care per resident, Interior Health has a certain target they like to achieve, and not only are we achieving that, we are exceeding it. In doing so, they've agreed to fund all 10 beds.
It's a 24-month arrangement. In their minds, it's maybe a bridge to a larger facility here in Osoyoos, Zelco added. He also said it was important to note that any families wishing to place a relative in Desert Valley Care must now go through Interior Health. Co-owner Don Millward said IH Director of Health Services Nancy Serwo indicated there is a dearth of beds in the area and Desert Valley Care is filling a need.
Four of the current six residents were on list for being in a subsidized situation. The other two are more assisted living residents. I believe we are capable of providing both levels of care, up to a level where patients would be better suited to a hospital scenario, said Millward. Both Zelco and Millward said without IH funding, they could not have remained open as they were at their limits financially.
There are also other parties who have helped, such as Bill Barisoff's office, and we also had some assistance from Interior Savings Credit Union, Millward added.
Care worker Arttemus Baldwin was pleased to learn the situation had turned around, adding she believed everything will run as smoothly as it did before the closure announcement.
I'm definitely pleased for my residents now that they don't have to find a new home. And I'm definitely pleased that I won't have to look for a new job, Baldwin said.
Care worker Joe-Ann Tessier said she understood Desert Valley Care would soon be receiving four more residents. The staff and residents are very excited. To uproot and move such elderly residents would have been terrible, so there's a sense of relief now that we will have two more years. We're all feeling pretty good, said Tessier.
