It appears the province has given the green light to a proposed updated and expanded regional personal care home facility in Carman. Health minister Kelvin Goertzen announced Friday that Boyne Lodge will receive 10 new beds, 70 replacement beds and up to 30 transitional care beds as part of an expansion and refurbishment of the 50 year old facility.

"Transitional care beds are important for transitioning people from hospital...into either supportive housing, a personal care home or into home care. It (Carman PCH proposal) is an interesting project because it has a mix of models with new personal care home beds, replacement beds and transitional care beds, which is good because it is a continuum of care within that model," said Goertzen.
    
Carman Mayor Bob Mitchell serves as Chairperson for Boyne Care Holdings Inc., the multi-municipality group leading the charge on this project. He said it's nice to see the proposal take another step forward, noting the group has been working on a project plan for about five years now.

"We've worked closely with Manitoba Health and Southern Health. The people there have been great as far as helpful, they just bend over backward to give us the data that we need or get us in the direction that we need to go," added Mitchell.

He said now the group can now get to work on a Class C proposal for the project.

"It means that we have to show the province that we can do a cash flow and still stick with the $133,000 per bed of funding from them," Mitchell explained. "To show the province that the cash flow works and we can do it within that budget."

A general design of the proposed facility can also be completed now.