The opening of the Poinciana mental health facility has been delayed again, with the new date expected sometime in the second quarter of 2024, according to Health Minister Sabrina Turner.
In response to a question in Parliament on Monday from George Town South MP Barbara Conolly, Turner said the opening ran into a few delays related to electrical concerns.
“The opening date of Poinciana is contingent on the handover date of the facility to the ministry, which at this time is possibly pushed out into quarter two,” she said.
The facility is designed to provide long-term care to residents housed in its nine cottages, complemented by a cafeteria, administration building, and a third building serving as a coffee shop, workshop and hurricane shelter.
Though construction crews broke ground on the $15 million 15-acre facility in October 2019, with completion originally expected by December 2021, the project has run into repeated delays, some due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In December, Turner said in a statement in Parliament that these pushbacks and other expenses brought the projected capital cost to $21.5 million.
The most recent expected handover timeline was for this March, but Turner said in the House that the Public Works project management team has advised that some final inspections have resulted in a further delay.
“The last update advised of a fault being detected in the main feeders to three of the cottages during the electrical inspections,” which is causing an additional delay of six to eight weeks,” she said.
Staffing plans
In the meantime, planners are lining up staff for the facility. Turner said the director, Marcia Amoy Mullings-Thompson, and two human resources personnel are the only current staff, but two senior managers are slated to start in March and April.
Poinciana has a budget for 47 employees to be hired in 2024 and an additional 15 in 2025.
Turner added that a professional nurse advocate programme is in development.
“The main aim is to provide employment opportunities for Caymanians who want to work as PNAs at [the facility],” she added. “This training will help to develop our local workforce, and to provide them with an opportunity to attain employment in mental health services locally.”
The programme would be 29 weeks long, 24 of which would comprise on-the-job experience. She said details of the training, which includes 18 spots, would be announced within a month.
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