Current Quill Plains Centenial Lodge that is set to be replaced (Submitted photo/Roxanne Bagnall, Quill Plains Healthcare Foundation)

By Ben Tompkins

Quill Plains Health Care Foundation

Nearly $800,000 already raised towards improvements of Quill Plains Centennial Lodge

Nov 18, 2022 | 3:23 PM

The Quill Plains Health Care Foundation (QPHF) is continuing to raise money to finance the addition of a new wing for the Quill Plains Centennial Lodge (QPCL), along with other much-needed renovations to the existing facilities.

The foundation and the Town of Watson are currently putting on a community cash lottery to aid those efforts. A total of 1,000 tickets of $100 each are being sold, with a total of $43,000 up for grabs. There will be 8 draws of $1,000 and $2,500 and 1 draw of $5,000 and $10,000.

The funds will add to the already $780,000 of money raised, which puts them closer to their current goal of $2.2 million, including the current commitment from local rural municipalities of about $900k.

Back in 2017, the foundation was constructed with charitable status, with the hope of getting a new wing and doing a renovation to bring their laundry upstairs, out of the basement.

After they had a study done, however, chairperson Norma Weber told northeastNOW “the Government of Saskatchewan reportedly changed their mind, causing the project costs to reach roughly $8-10 million.”

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Since then, they have officially announced a new level for a long-term care home in Watson. However, it is still unknown if it will just be added on or if a new building will be constructed entirely.

And according to Weber, because of that, it hasn’t put an exact number on how much exactly the foundation has to raise.

“Until we find out what kind of a facility we’re going to get, we don’t know, and so that’s what we are anxiously waiting for. We want to let the people know because they are very anxious to know just exactly what we’re going to have to raise. Hopefully, that is going to be our next step and we will find out those numbers,” said Weber.

The foundation is responsible for all the furnishings and equipment, while the municipalities are responsible for 20% of the structural costs.

Roughly 25 rural and urban municipalities currently rely on Watson as their main source of health care.

One last thing Weber mentioned as a concern, is should a new building be constructed, she hopes it has the same type of access the current one displays.

“Our health center, which is attached to our long-term care home, has our doctors’ offices, our lab, and our x-ray machines. We do have a concern, if they are going to build a whole new facility, they also include those facilities in there too,” she added.

“We certainly don’t want to go without that, and if anything, in our new facility, we want to enhance our services there.”

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Ben.Tompkins@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter @BenTompkins_8