Wednesday, January 17, 2018
Issue 37
SERVING THE ENERGY CITY SINCE 1903
www.estevanmercury.ca
Mailing No. 10769 | Publication No. 40069240
New nursing home committee presents letters to provincial government By William Acri wacri@estevanmercury.ca
The committee that is trying to bring a new nursing home to Estevan has presented all of the letters that it received from people in the community who also want to see a new nursing
home in Estevan. Health Minster Jim Reiter and Rural and Remote Health Minister Greg Ottenbreit were the recipients of the 614 letters submitted by concerned residents of Estevan and the surrounding area who want a new nursing home.
No insurance coverage for Civic; building will remain closed The City of Estevan will not receive insurance coverage for the Civic Auditorium, and so the 60-yearold arena will remain closed. In an interview with the Mercury on Tuesday morning, Mayor Roy Ludwig said he was surprised with the decision. “After going over all of the documentation we sent them, they finally got back and said that although they will cover until the end of this month, that will only be with the understanding that the Civic remains closed, and after that, they will not insure it any longer,” said Ludwig. Ludwig said council was not willing to reopen the Civic without the necessary insurance coverage. While Ludwig said he was surprised, he added that other members were not confident that the Civic would get the necessary insurance. And the longer council went without hearing from the insurance provider, the more concerned they became that the insurance will not come through. Next week’s edition of the Mercury will have more on this story.
The letters were presented by the new nursing home committee during a meeting with the two ministers on Jan. 9. The committee had hoped to present the letters in December, but their plans were shelved due to weather. Committee chair Don Kindopp was feeling generally positive about meeting with the health minsters and presenting them with the letters. But the committee did not receive a commitment from the provincial government as to when it would proceed with the new nursing home. “We met with the minsters yesterday morning and we were told that it will be a while before the province will be in a financial position to come up with the other 80 per cent of the funding required,” said Kindopp “We were asked to be patient and continue to have good and constant communication with the provincial government.” The new nursing home committee’s Hearthstone Community Campaign reached its goal of raising $8 million, or 20 per cent of the facility’s projected $40 million cost, back in January 2015. The health minster has assured those involved with the new nursing home that he can be the direct line of communication until a local representative can be found and the health authority amalgamation is complete.
From left, Rural and Remote Health Minister Greg Ottenbreit, new Estevan Regional Nursing Home committee chair Don Kindopp, Estevan MLA Lori Carr, committee members Tania Hlohovsky-Andrist and Vern Buck, and Health Minister Jim Reiter participate in a group photo on Jan. 9 in Regina. Photo submitted A statement issued from with the budget that was rent nursing home has, that the Ministry of Health said, brought down this past Kindopp pointed out are “At this time, the ministry March, that the people of severe, is the rooms have no has not approved any plan- this province and the citi- tracks in the celling for lift zens of Estevan are aware devices, which is a staple of ning for this project.” Late March or early that we do not have a lot of new nursing home designs. April was the time given extra money,” said Carr. “If He also mentioned issues for those involved with the a project like this does get up surrounding the privacy new nursing home to have and going it is going to take and dignity of the current any new information about a little bit of out of the box patients. “Currently the only the direction of the project. thinking.” Kindopp pointed out privacy they have is a curDespite the limbo that the nursing home is sitting that the current nursing tain that has be pulled back in, the ministry did mention home was built 52 years frequently every time they “The Ministry of Health ago, and at the time, the want to leave their bed,” said recognizes that the new Es- type of senior care provided Kindopp. “The new nursing tevan regional nursing home was different than what is home will have partition walls that will separate the replacement project is a high prevalent today. “With the current nurs- beds and living spaces from priority for the community ing home we had issues with each other, giving a great of Estevan.” Estevan MLA Lori Carr air quality and the roof was deal more privacy and digsaid she also feels positive leaking some time ago but I nity to the home’s resident.” Kindopp said he does about the new nursing home believe that has been fixed,” feel that the minsters are and the response that was re- said Kindopp. “The rooms are 45 per behind the project and they ceived from the ministry of health. She also is aware that cent smaller then what is themselves are awaiting dimoney right now coming the recommended for present rection to come down from the province on the nursing day design,” he added. province is greatly limited. Other issues the cur- home issue. “There is obviously,
Estevan Police Service members handled more than 10,000 calls and infractions in 2017 By David Willberg dwillberg@estevanmercury.ca
Estevan Police Service (EPS) members had one of their busiest years on record in 2017, as they responded to 10,647 calls for service, infractions and occurrences. Police Chief Paul Ladouceur, in an interview with the Mercury, said the number is up from the 7,671 calls they handled in 2016. Ladouceur stressed, though, that the spike is partially due a few factors. One of them is the way in which they code community appearances. “We are doing a better job at tracking our community services,” said Ladouceur. “So, for example, if we have an officer who
is attending a community event, we are generating an occurrence for that.” If an officer participates in a parade, or when the Estevan Police Association held its youth nights in the fall, those counted as occurrences. “We can track how much time we’re engaged with public service outside of regular police work,” said Ladouceur. “Those calls increase the numbers a little bit, but not substantially.” That information wasn’t tracked previously. Also affecting the call volumes is the EPS’s involvement with the Combined Traffic Services of Saskatchewan, which has members of both the EPS and the Estevan RCMP.
When a member of the EPS, who is part of the traffic unit, hands out a ticket for speeding or another infraction, it counts towards the EPS numbers. The EPS also received 2,267 reports of attempted frauds worth less than $5,000. Those calls would include scam phone calls and e-mails that have been circulating the community, with callers claiming to be with banks, the Canada Revenue Agency or other organizations. “There is a huge number there … and we have been cautioning people, throughout the year through the media, in regards to all of the different scams out there. We can’t say it enough, time and time
again, that there are so many scams out there. “With the Internet … a lot of these frauds are occurring from far away places, and they’re tapping in locally, and they’re contacting people via e-mail or via fraudulent websites, claiming to be people’s banks, or promising them thousands of dollars if they provide certain information, or claiming that they have won a prize.” If people are being asked to pay money so that a prize can be transported or shipped, it’s bogus, the police chief said. If they receive a notification for payment from their bank, they should head to the bank and ask them directly to verify the issue.
Ladouceur said there wasn’t any point in the past year in which he saw a staggering increase in a particular crime category. “What I’m suspecting is it’s a few rises in every area,” said Ladouceur. “We might have had 24 break and enters in 2016, and last year we had 27. So there’s not a large increase in that category alone, but when you combine it through all the categories, it increases the numbers overall.” Among other crime categories, the EPS had 161 calls for impaired driving last year. Forty-eight were unfounded. Out of the 113 actuals, 70 were cleared by charges, with 55 of those charges for impaired driving.
Three were charged for impaired care and control of a vehicle by alcohol, two were for impairment by a drug, one was for impaired care and control by drug, seven were for failing or refusing to provide a breath sample, four were for failing to provide for an approved screening device and one was for failing or refusing to submit to an evaluation. As was documented through numbers released at the Estevan board of police commissioners meetings throughout the year, the number of drug-related charges was down. “We focused more on larger trafficking investigations than on low-level (crimes),” said Ladouceur. A2 » MAJOR
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