A Calgary company and the Town of Drumheller are assessing the feasibility of a private  seniors living and continuing care facility here, the town said in a press release Wednesday.

    The release says over the past two months the town has been working with the Statesmen Group of Companies, headquartered in Calgary, to assess whether to create a private seniors living complex here. 

Drumheller currently only has publicly funded seniors living and continuing care facilities, but town economic development manager Sean Wallace says there is a need for a private model in Drumheller. 

“Generally what happens is seniors end up moving away to Sundre, Red Deer, or Calgary where they have private senior living services,” he said. “Some seniors prefer not to use the public system and providing more choices means we get to keep our seniors in our community longer.”

He says the town has had three meetings with the Statesmen Group but the project is “still at the feasibility stage” to determine whether there is a market in the region.  There is no proposed site location yet.

A survey is being distributed to gain input from area seniors, individuals with aging parents, and individuals planning their senior years. The surveys are available at town hall, on the town’s website (dinosaurvalley.com), at the Pioneer Trail seniors centre, the Sunshine Lodge, and Drumheller library. 

The facility would be modeled after the companies “Manor Village Life Centres” model of seniors living and would have approximately “130 rooms with onsite health care that can also accommodate Supportive Living Level 4 seniors care,” the press release says.

The company has seven Manor Village model locations in Calgary and others is London, Ontario, and one in Scottsdale and Phoenix, Arizona, according to their website.

Three in the race to represent the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) in the Battle River-Crowfoot riding were in Drumheller last night, July 16 at the BCF giving party membership a chance to hear from the candidates.

Running for the nomination to be the candidate for the CPC in the next federal election are Damien Kurek, Jefferson McClung, and Jeff Watson.

 On Tuesday night there was a forum as well as a question period for the candidates before membership had the opportunity to vote.

 On July 17, the candidates will be in Stettler and then in Camrose for the final vote, where the candidate will be selected.