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ONTARIO TAKING ACTION TO IMMEDIATELY INCREASE STAFFING IN LTC; ALSO FUNDS NEW AND REDEVELOPED BEDS

Funding to Support More Direct Care for Residents in Kitchener–Conestoga

Kitchener–Conestoga — As part of its plan to fix long-term care, the Ontario government will provide up to $673 million this year to long-term care homes across the province to increase staffing levels, leading to more direct care for residents. This includes $7,116,648 for long-term care homes in Kitchener–Conestoga. This is part of the province’s commitment to ensure long-term care residents receive—on average—four hours of direct care per day by 2024-25.

The Ontario government is also adding 136 new beds and upgrading 312 beds at two homes in Kitchener and St. Jacobs. This is part of the government’s $6.4 billion commitment to build more than 30,000 net new beds by 2028 and 28,000 upgraded long-term care beds across the province.

“These new and redeveloped beds and increased funding for staffing allocations will allow homes in our community to hire and retain more staff so they can provide the world-class care that Ontario’s residents, every day,” said MPP Mike Harris. “These projects represent the largest investment in long term care in Canada’s history, and will ensure everyone living in long-term care gets the high-quality care they need and deserve.”

BED ALLOCATIONS

The bed allocations announced today will create two new buildings for existing long-term care homes, and will increase the overall number of much-needed beds in the area at:

  • Derbecker’s Heritage House in St. Jacobs. There will be 56 new and 72 upgraded beds as part of the new construction.
  • Forest Heights in Kitchener. There will be 80 new and 240 upgraded beds as part of the new construction.

FUNDING ALLOCATIONS

These funds will increase care for residents at:

  • Barnswallow Place Care Community, in Elmira, will receive up to $837,252 for additional staffing this year to increase the hours of direct care for residents.
  • Chartwell Elmira Long Term Care Residence, will receive up to $313,968 for additional staffing this year to increase the hours of direct care for residents.
  • Chartwell Westmount Long Term Care Residence, in Kitchener, will receive up to $1,395,420 for additional staffing this year to increase the hours of direct care for residents.
  • Derbecker’s Heritage House, in St. Jacobs, will receive up to $627,936 for additional staffing this year to increase the hours of direct care for residents.
  • Forest Heights Long Term Care Centre, in Kitchener, will receive up to $1,500,084 for additional staffing this year to increase the hours of direct care for residents.
  • Lanark Heights Long Term Care Centre, in Kitchener, will receive up to $1,395,420 for additional staffing this year to increase the hours of direct care for residents.
  • Nithview Home, in New Hamburg, will receive up to $845,976 for additional staffing this year to increase the hours of direct care for residents.
  • Twin Oaks of Maryhill Inc., will receive up to $200,592 for additional staffing this year to increase the hours of direct care for residents.

“We know that more qualified staff means more daily care for residents,” said Paul Calandra, Minister of Long-Term Care. “Hiring more staff is part of our government’s plan to fix long-term care and to improve the quality of care residents receive and the quality of life they experience.”  

Seniors entering long-term care today are older and have more complex medical needs than they did just a decade ago. The level of care residents need has increased dramatically, but the amount of care they receive each day has not. In the nine years, between 2009 and 2018, the amount of care each resident received, by all providers, per day increased by only 22 minutes. Our government, over the span of four years, will increase direct hours of care by 1 hour and 21 minutes.

The government is investing $4.9 billion over four years to boost direct resident care to an average of four hours daily by increasing care staff by more than 27,000 people. Hiring thousands of new staff at long-term homes and increasing the amount of care they deliver each year will be made possible by annual funding increases to homes:

  • $270 million in 2021-22
  • $673 million in 2022-23
  • $1.25 billion in 2023-24
  • $1.82 billion in 2024-25

QUOTES

“Today’s announcements of additional funding and investment in both new and upgraded beds in local Long-Term-Care homes for residents from Kitchener and throughout Waterloo region helps ensure that once our older adults can no longer live independently, our community has the necessary housing and supports in place to ensure that they live their latter years in both comfort and dignity,” said City of Kitchener Mayor, Barry Vrbanovic. “I would like to thank local MPP Mike Harris for his work both today and previously in seeing that our community’s needs went from being a wish to a reality, helping ensure our older adults have the high quality of life they have earned and deserve.”        

“We are extremely pleased that the Ontario government is addressing the need for new and redeveloped beds to better accommodate long-term care residents in Waterloo Region. We would like to thank the Honourable Mike Harris and Mayor Sandy Shantz for their support. The expanded capacity will ensure that Derbecker’s Heritage House can continue to serve the unique rural population that we have been part of since 1965,” said Pam Derbecker, President of Derbecker’s Heritage House. “We would like to acknowledge our Community Partners not only for their endorsement of our application but for their ongoing assistance as we care for residents with more complex health care needs now and into the future. Our staff also deserve recognition as they work through these challenging times. The announcement of increased funding for direct hours of care will be a tremendous step forward for our home and the entire sector.”        

“Investing in modern infrastructure that uses the latest design standards enhances the safety and comfort of residents and improves the working environment for our dedicated staff. Revera appreciates the commitment of the Ministry of Long-Term Care to upgrading and expanding the province’s aging senior care infrastructure,” said JP Cadeau, President, Revera Canada. “We look forward to working with MPP Mike Harris, the City of Kitchener and the Region of Waterloo to build a new 320-bed home in Kitchener.” 

“Thank you to MPP Harris and the Ontario government for this staffing investment that will have a positive impact at Barnswallow Place Care Community,” said Catherine Schalk, Executive Director of Barnswallow Place Care Community. “We welcome every opportunity to further strengthen the care provided to our residents. This investment combined with the steps the government has taken to train more people to work with seniors will help address staffing pressures we are facing.”

“Lanark Heights LTC is incredibly thankful for the recently announced direct care funding for our home,” said John Scotland, CEO of Lanark Heights Long Term Care. “For Lanark, this means over 39,000 additional hours of care this year!  On behalf of our residents and staff thank you for enabling this meaningful and substantive enhancement in the quality of care we can provide.”

QUICK FACTS

  • Ontario now has over 24,000 new and 19,000 upgraded beds in the development pipeline — which means more than 80 percent of the 30,000 net new beds being delivered are in the planning, construction and opening stages of the development process.
  • In 2021-22, the province invested $200 million to train up to 16,200 additional personal support workers through publicly-assisted colleges, private career colleges and district school boards.
  • In 2021-22, the province also invested $35M to add up to 2,000 additional nursing students at publicly-assisted colleges and universities across the province, for the Fall 2021 and Winter 2022 incoming cohorts.

WATERLOO REGION BEDS

There are now 1,024 new and 909 upgraded long-term care beds in development, under construction or completed in Waterloo Region, including the following projects:

  • 176 new, 48 redeveloping beds at Chartwell Elmira Long Term Care Residence
  • 33 new and 95 upgraded beds at Cambridge Country Manor
  • 80 new and 112 upgraded beds at peopleCare – Kitchener
  • 109 new and 179 upgraded beds at Schlegel Villages – The Village of Winston Park
  • 108 new beds at Fairview Mennonite Homes – Cambridge
  • 51 new and 114 upgraded beds at Saint Luke’s Place
  • 95 new and 97 upgraded beds at TCMH – Nithview Community
  • 60 new beds at Trinity Village Care Centre
  • 192 new beds at peopleCare – Cambridge
  • 160 new beds at peopleCare – St. Jacobs

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