Could the current hospital end up as seniors housing? Portions of it, says MLA Mike Bernier at BC Seniors Advocate’s Isobel Mackenzie’s meeting this week in Dawson Creek.
“I have seen the new hospital in the budget, and construction is (scheduled) to start next year. It will be a three-year build," said Bernier.
He noted while some of the existing hospital will have to be demolished, other areas of It could be converted to longer-term care homes or assisted living.
The current Dawson Creek and Regional Hospital will still operate until construction is complete.
It is an idea Mackenzie compared to elsewhere in BC.
“In Terrace, seniors housing was created out of an Olympic facility. These are the kinds of projects that would work in Dawson Creek as well,” she said, adding BC Housing projects do not tend to focus on seniors. Bernier concurred.
“Their focus seems to be on housing for people with addictions at the moment,” said Bernier, the provincial housing critic.
