The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Plans are in place to build a private care home in Creighton for alzheimer's patients and people with related dementia. Town council has donated a parcel of land beside the Heritage Manor for the building, but the timeline for construction remains unknown. "It's all contingent on the funding," said Creighton's Helen Hunter, chairperson of the Mitkas-Hunter Hope Foundation, which is spearheading the project. The foundation has applied for various government and foundational grants to cover the approximate $500,000 cost of the facility. Hunter and her fellow volunteers have also spent the past year fundraising and will continue to do so. The 10-bed supportive housing facility would serve residents throughout the region who suffer from alzheimer's disease and related forms of dementia. The facility would serve as an alternative to existing care homes, offering a home-like environment and activities catered to the individual residents. If the foundation is successful and the building goes up, Hunter said the ongoing costs would be covered by residential fees, grants and, if necessary, fundraising. Hunter was inspired to undertake this project in 2002 after her father, alzheimer's patient Miros Mitkas, was transferred from Flin Flon to a mental health centre in Selkirk. "I felt if I applied my energies to helping people with alzheimer's, it would help me through this journey of not being able to be there for him on a day-to-day basis," she said. Since then, Hunter has spent countless hours trying to bring supportive alzheimer's care services to her home region. She has found inspiration in Prince Albert, where volunteers have built a seniors supportive housing, the $1 million Abbeyfield House, on grants and fundraising revenues. See 'Believe' P.# Con't from P.# "It took them seven years to get the funding together," noted Hunter. "Bravo for them, because they were persistent and consistent and never gave up. I hope it doesn't take us seven years, but I will continue to believe in what we're trying to accomplish." Hunter recently received some more inspiration for her cause. She has been informed that her father will be transferred next week to the Northern Lights Manor in Flin Flon, as his condition no longer requires the specialized care provided in Selkirk. "Once receiving the phone call, the joy that overcame me at that moment was indescribable," she said. "I was just overjoyed and in tears because it was the phone call I've been waiting for for months, and it has finally come to pass. He's finally coming home."9/21/2004
