On Monday, April 4, Saba Cares received formal approval from the Ministry of Public Health, Wellbeing and Sport (VWS) for the project to build a new nursing home and residential facilities.

Deputy Secretary-General of the Ministry of VWS Abigail Norville during her visit to Saba Cares personally handed over a letter from the Ministry to Chairman of the Saba Cares Supervisory Board Sydney Sorton and Saba Cares Director Judith Meijer. Saba Commissioner of Public Health Rolando Wilson was also present at this special moment.

The letter is the result of a year of close cooperation between Saba Cares, the Ministry of VWS and the Public Entity Saba and marks the beginning of further mutual support for the construction of the new nursing home and residential facilities.

Saba Cares can now start working on the actual design of the project, together with an architect, the final business plan and the budget, the permits and the final financing of the project which should be ready in the course of this year.

The new nursing home and residential facilities, a combination of group residencies and individual residencies, will have more capacity than the current nursing home. The new nursing home and residential facilities will be built on two plots of land formerly owned by the Simmons family and the Donker family, both of which were bought by Saba Cares. The dwelling that was on the plot of the Simmons’ family land has been demolished, while the last piece of construction on the Donker family land is currently being cleared.

Commissioner Wilson said he was very content with the plans to construct a new nursing home and residential facilities. “This project will benefit our senior citizens who contributed a lot to the community during their working years. They deserve a comfortable place to live with the wonderful care that the Saba Cares personnel provides,” he said.

GIS Saba