72 long-term care beds could go inside old Stanton Territorial Hospital building

The N.W.T. government says the old Stanton Territorial Hospital building in Yellowknife could be hometo 72 long-term care beds, after the new Stanton Hospital opens in 2019.

Glen Abernethy, minister of Health and Social Services, floated the scenario and number of beds to MLAs in the legislative assembly Thursday.

"We have got direction from the Financial Management Board to explore that further," said Abernethy.

"[It] can't happen until the new hospital opens and they have moved out of that building and they have done capital retrofitting within that building to meet the needs. That's a couple years out."

258 beds eyed across territory

What to do with the building currently housing Yellowknife's 29-year-old hospital has been the subject of much debate, with some calling on the government to make it a mental health treatment centre.

But the territory is also expecting a significant greying of the territory's population,with nearly 12 per cent of people in N.W.T. expected to be aged 70 or older by 2034.

That would create an estimated shortfall of 467 long-term care beds.

Putting long-term care beds in theoldStanton buildingcould be part of a wider plan to install 258 long-term care beds in the territory by 2026, said Abernethy.

"In order, priority would go to Yellowknife; Inuvik, where we have people living in acute care units in the hospital, which is completely inappropriate; then Fort Simpson and Hay River are about equal. That is the majority of the 258 beds."

With some funding from the government, the Avens seniors centre in Yellowknife is preparing a business case to add 48 beds to its own campus.

Company to lease space in old hospital

Once the new Stanton Hospital opens in 2019, the old Stanton building will still be owned by the territorial government but will be leased to a companynamed Ventura Stanton Inc. for development into rental space potentially alongside the long-term care area proposed by Abernethy.

The government and the company will share the profits made from leasing other space in the building.

According to the government's websiteforthe new Stanton Hospital, "The vision for the [old] building is for it to exist as part of a 'Campus of Care.'It would accommodate for the development of programs and services that fit well with a hospital campus setting."

Construction on the new hospital is now one-third complete.