Pioneer Village deals with consecutive water woes
Regina’s beleaguered Pioneer Village is in cleanup mode after suffering water woes this past week.
It’s been one watery problem after another for the province’s largest seniors’ complex. The messiest came Tuesday when a water line burst, which had a sprinkler attached.
For about 10 minutes, water gushed in a doorway, which is used frequently by patients and staff, said Andre Kroeger, the Saskatchewan Health Authority ’s executive director of facilities management in Regina.
Because of an improperly closed door, the sprinkler pipe froze and burst.
“Water basically went everywhere,” Kroeger said. “The sprinklers have quite the force to them. The vestibule was pretty much drenched and the water went down the hallway to the adjacent areas, which was part of the cafeteria and a small ( beauty) salon.”
As a result, a fire code was called and the water and fire suppression systems were shut down. The fire department responded to the fire code and provided an all-clear.
No residents had to be moved out of their rooms, said Debbie Sinnett, executive director of longterm care for the Saskatchewan Health Authority in Regina.
The area was closed off and sealed and extra security guards made rounds until repairs on the sprinkler system were completed that night, she said.
After the water system was shut down, flooding was contained in a 200-square foot area.
The adjoining walls to the cafeteria and beauty salon were damaged as well as the flooring, which dates back to when the facility was built half a century ago.
“Of course, they were built with asbestos at that point,” Kroeger said. “It wasn’t an issue because it was all contained.”
Flooring in the affected area will be replaced next week and drywall repairs will follow. Kroeger estimated repairs will run between $10,000 and $20,000.
The special-care home has a history of mould because of a leaky roof, moisture around windows and plumbing problems.
Last year, a mould specialist checked the entire facility to identify areas of concern.
“We did remediation on four areas in the building in the summer and then we have also a mould monitoring plan and a remediation protocol that’s in place for anything that happens like this,” Kroeger said.
Whenever dampness is spotted, there’s a review, containment and then, depending on the severity, there’s different treatment.
A team that includes facility management and health-care providers meets biweekly to discuss the maintenance plan, monitoring and potential mould.
As a result of ongoing work to patch the aging facility, the number of beds dropped from 390 in the summer to 352 after Unit 3 East was closed as a permanent facility.
Patients are now moved temporarily to Unit 3 East when there’s emergent or planned maintenance or when a unit or wing is closed, Sinnett said.
Despite the loss of beds, Sinnett said there hasn’t been a significant increase in the number of people waiting for long-term care.
However, more hospitalized patients are waiting for convalescent beds because of increased slips and falls this winter. As of Thursday, three people were waiting in hospital, and about 90 people in the community are awaiting placement for long-term care.
Over the past year, there have been extensive power, water and sewer system improvements at Pioneer Village.
Despite the work, the health authority issued a ‘Do Not Consume Drinking Water’ advisory on Saturday resulting from unplanned maintenance to the facility’s plumbing system.
“We had a failure of our boilers, there was a leak that developed, and as a result we were losing pressure,” Kroeger said.
There was the potential to back feed into the hot water system so, as a precaution, the advisory was issued. It was lifted Wednesday when water test results came back safe.
Boiler components will be replaced next week.
A full-time contractor and his team are on the site to maintain Pioneer Village. Kroeger is confident the building can be maintained safely until the Ministry of Health launches a plan for its replacement. “We’re fully committed to the safety and integrity of the building for both our residents and our staff,” he said.