Flooding at large New Glasgow nursing home displaces 32 residents

Thirty-two residents of an aging long-term care home in New Glasgow, N.S., were evacuated earlier this week after a water main break in the basement of the facility caused significant flooding in one of the units.

Steve Scannell, the administrator at Glen Haven Manor, said in an email Thursday that all residents who were forced to leave the unit Tuesday evening are safe and unharmed, but it's not clear when they will be able to return.

Some are staying at other homes and others were moved to vacant rooms at Glen Haven, but Scannell said there are a number who were relocated to common areas at the nursing home.

"We are actively working on a plan to find comfortable, longer-term living spaces for those currently residing in common areas," he said. "We do not yet know the schedule for returning them back to the care unit."

The incident underlines the urgency of building a new nursing home in the area to replace Glen Haven, parts of which are more than 50 years old, according to New Glasgow Mayor Nancy Dicks. She noted there was another water main break in 2019.

"It wasn't lost on me that it speaks to the age of the facility and the dire need to get it replaced," she said.

Two proposed locations for a new nursing home in New Glasgow were scuttled last year following community pushback, but the mayor said a third site has been found.

Dicks said the location is confidential until the due diligence process is finished. It also needs to be approved by the Nova Scotia government, which is helping fund new and renovated long-term homes.

Glen Haven bills itself on its website as one of the largest long-term care facilities in the province, with 200 beds.

It's owned jointly by the towns of New Glasgow, Stellarton, Trenton and Westville, and was built in 1969, with an extension added in 1975 and substantial renovations in 1991, according to the website.

Finance Minister John Lohr, who was speaking on behalf of Long-Term Care Minister Barbara Adams, said 22 of the residents forced to leave due to the flood were relocated to rooms or areas within Glen Haven. 

"They've all been looked after," he told reporters following a cabinet meeting. "It's a very serious flood in that facility, for sure."

Older facility

Janet Lynn Huntington, the associate deputy minister for the Department of Long-Term Care, credited the "tremendous efforts" of staff and management at the facility when faced with a difficult situation.

Glen Haven is an older facility, she said in an interview, but staff there do an "excellent job" with maintenance.

Department spokesperson Kristen Rector said the provincial government plans to replace Glen Haven, part of its pledge to add or replace 5,700 single long-term care rooms across the province by 2032.

Nursing home owners arrange to finance the construction, but once the facility opens the province pays the operating costs, including the mortgage. Rector said there's no estimated cost for the Glen Haven replacement.

Scannell said the break was in a pipe running underneath the maintenance office. He said the cause is still being assessed and an engineering firm will be at the site Thursday.

Staff at the home acted quickly and remained calm, he said. He called their response "amazing," and said the Nova Scotia government and partners in the community have been helping in the aftermath.