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January 22, 2007

Dear Premier Stelmach,

My husband and I met you during your campaign for Premier; I truly congratulate you on your win. I met
with you along with fellow members of the seniors' task force. I also mentioned to you during that meeting
about the conversion of Hinton's long-term facility to a Designated Assisted Living facility, this is one of
the five points the seniors task force is campaigning to have stopped. I will explain again to you why
Hinton no longer has any long-term care beds and why we need them back as soon as possible.

Back in the late 1980s one of Hinton's major priorities and objectives was to build a long-term care facility.
With the drive of two women Mabel Lee and Grace Hart and with the communities support by December
2000 there were plans to build a 40 long-term care bed and 25 supportive living unit facility. Even though
Hinton only managed to secure funding to get the approval to build a 25 long-term care bed and 27
supportive living unit facility, the community was still overjoyed.

The Mountain View Centre operated by the Good Samaritan Society opened in October 2002 and
residents that had been shipped out of Hinton and placed in other long-term care facilities throughout the
region were finally coming home to be close to their families.

On January 30, 2005 your government under Premier Klein took away all of Hinton's long term care beds
and actually paid $500,000 to have it done. The Good Samaritan Society was allowed to downgrade and
reclassify our long-term care facility to a 52 bed Designated Assisted Living facility. For years before
these residents came back to Hinton they were long-term care residents then overnight that same
resident became a Designated assisted living resident. The reclassification of the Mountain View Centre
was not done to improve the quality of life for the residents living there, but was done strictly for the
almighty dollar.

I would call the reclassification of Mountain View Centre one of the worst disasters to have happened to
this community since the train derailment of 1986.

At a September 2006 meeting in Hinton the Advisory Council for Alberta that was headed by Raymond
Prins, heard from our hospital administrator that one of the major priorities again for our community was
the desperate need for long-term care beds due to the fact that our hospital beds were filling up with long-
term care residents.

I read in this months Edmonton Senior paper that you issued letters to your cabinet ministers out lining
priorities that you expect them to accomplish. The paragraph that I was most interested in was, "A major
job for the new Seniors minister will be to bring forward an update plan to expand long-term care and
improve standards" I was very glad to hear that the two major jobs are exactly what my husband and I
have been advocating years for.

The Evergreens Foundation wants to expand unto the Pine Valley Lodge and this has been in the
planning phase since 1996. The community of Hinton has already been approved for the funding to build
a long-term care and a supportive living facility years ago so please look at this project for immediate
funding to build the 40 long-term care beds and 25 supportive living units Hinton needs and was
approved for back in December 2000.