Nursing Home Addition Opens in Antigonish

Seniors will be able to stay in their community longer with the official opening, today, June 16, of Cobblestone and Thistledown Cottages, a 28-bed addition to the R.K. MacDonald Nursing Home in Antigonish.

With the addition, R.K. MacDonald Nursing Home is now home to 137 residents.

"This addition will enable residents to receive the care and support they need in a facility that feels like home," said Health and Wellness Minister Maureen MacDonald.

Cobblestone and Thistledown Cottages reflects the province's new design standards which emphasize one and two-storey buildings with access to green space and homier surroundings. The design also enables couples who require nursing home care to live together in the same household.

"My first impression of the new cottage Thistledown, my new home to be, is that it looks like a five-star hotel," said R. K. MacDonald resident Mary Deon. "I can't wait to move in."

The two cottages are self-contained households, Cobblestone with 13 residents and Thistledown with 15 residents. Both have a kitchen, living room and dining room. Residents have private room with their own wheelchair accessible washroom. An outdoor garden can be accessed from the cottages.

"The opening of the beautiful Cobblestone and Thistledown Cottages begins a new era in the lives of our residents," said Joe Martell, chair of the nursing home's board. "We are very excited for them."

The addition will provide employment for 34 employees. The 28 beds opening at R.K. MacDonald are part of the 1,000 new, long-term care beds that will be open by the summer in 14 new facilities and ten additions to existing facilities throughout Nova Scotia.

Access to the R.K. MacDonald Nursing Home and other provincial long-term care facilities is through the Department of Health and Wellness's Single Entry Access system at 1-800-225-7225.