A message from the Chair of the Board of Directors:
Our staff, family and friends and community make our work possible! It is the people who we are fortunate to have in our employ, from the CEO, Senior Leadership, operations staffs, community volunteers that truly make the difference everyday in helping the resident’s, family and friends we serve.
September 2025 the RK MacDonald Nursing Home held an open public Annual General Meeting. Directors, appointed Auditor for MNP, CEO, Clinical Services, Director of Finance, Administration staff and Residents were present.
The Board extended a welcome to its new member Dave MacKenzie. A representative for the Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Martha. Dave comes to us with a background expertise in Business, Finance, LEAN, and Mission Assurance.
As a non-for-profit organization, 2025-2026 continued to be a busy year, where key decisions were made and the directors’ commitment was greatly appreciated.
On behalf of the Board of Directors, it my pleasure to share with you the strives we have made over the past year. The Board of Directors, continue to support several initiatives:
- Biannual review of the Strategic Plan with Goals and Objectives
- Infrastructure Renewal Project
- Establish the Cooperation’s position in accordance with the Facility Disposal Policy as per SLTC
- Board of Directors Education
- Risk Management Register
- Staffing Compliment
- Installation and management of Information Technology upgrades
- Occupational Health and Safety program
- Support efforts to meet Accreditation criteria
- Collaborate with the RK Foundation and Joint Capital Campaign Ad hoc committee
- Foster Resident and Family Council and Community Volunteers Partnership
In the past several months we have been excited to witness changes over the landscape on 61 Church St Extension, the location for the new Nursing Home facility. The Board of Directors attended a presentation from PCL Construction to provide an overview of the construction to date. We are please to report we continue to be on schedule and on budget.
Amid the ongoing challenges posed by the ever-evolving health care landscape from fiscal restriction and workforce shortage (from nationally, provincially and locally), we are very grateful to the Senior Leadership at the RK MacDonald Home for their leadership roles in have ongoing strategies to continue in providing quality and dignified care to our residents.
The Board supported and invested in new technology, thus providing enhanced inter-departmental collaboration, with departments such as Finance, Human Resources, Staffing and Dietary.
In promoting visibility of the RK MacDonald Home, the website has gone through a new facelift. In addition. Most recently, our CEO Terry MacIntyre, participating in a pod cast, Antigonish “Lets Talk” The focus was to heighten knowledge of who we are as a community resource, and promote engagement for viewers to the lifestyle while living at the Home.
Once again, thank you to all the Directors for your dedicated efforts and support to both me and the organization.
Finally, a big shout out to our staff for their ongoing dedication and service.
Sincerely,
Camilla Benoit
Chair of the Board of Directors
View the Annual Progress Reports for the RK MacDonald Nursing Home below:
Strategic Planning
As the RK Corporation looks forward to the move to 59 Church Street Ext. in June, 2028, the Home will continue to stay focused on its mission of “Providing loving, dignified, quality care and enabling people to live full and abundant lives”. Furthermore, our mission will be enhanced through ongoing operational excellence by supporting process optimization, continued technology integration, cost awareness measures and enhancing employee engagement.
The RK Corporation also recognizes that engaged employees, in a positive work environment, are crucial to achieving operational excellence. The RK will continue to invest in initiatives aimed at enhancing employee satisfaction and wellbeing. This includes supporting professional development programs, wellness initiatives, and enhancing our employee recognition process.
With a strong operational foundation that respects staff workloads, along with the continued support from our key stakeholders: Corporate Board of Directors, Foundation Board of Directors and our new build partners Colliers Project Leaders, and the Department of Seniors and Long-Term Care, the RK Corporation is well-positioned to achieve its strategic objectives of a successful transition to 59 Church St. Ext. through nurturing our people and growing diversity, equity and an inclusive culture that is committed to role modeling our core values of compassion, accountability, respect, excellence and safety.
Our 2025-28 strategic plan has three components:
- In Year 1 is dedicated to planning through the development of Project Charters and Key Performance Indicators…. ensuring we are 70% we can achieve our objectives.
- In Year 2 we will implement strategies meet the objectives of our Project Charters.
- In Year 3 we will employ our Key Performance Indicators to evaluate our programs and make any necessary adjustments.
It should be noted that all government sectors are facing financial challenges, long-term care included. However, not all objectives rely on the availability of funding, and where it may, we will leverage other resources to achieve our strategic objectives.
With an anticipated move-in date of June, 2028, our next strategic plan, likely early on 2029 will present an exciting challenge to provide strategic direction positioning the “new RK” within the long-term care community.
To read the full Strategic Plan document, please click here.
To read the 2026 Strategic Plan update, please click here.