Perth-Wellington MPP Matthew Rae announced new support for two local long-term care homes.
Rae was in St. Marys on April 12 at the Kingsway Lodge to announce over $80,000 in provincial funding for three long-term care projects, two at Kingsway Lodge and one at Spruce Lodge in Stratford. Rae says the funding is coming from a new Local Priorities Fund being administered through Ontario Health.
“The goal of this is to help local long-term care homes identify projects they want to see funded, and then they’re funded through Ontario Health. So it really gives an opportunity for our local, rural long-term care homes to identify priorities that will help them continue to provide the excellent care that they do provide to seniors in our riding,” Rae stated.
The new fund is providing $20 million province-wide this year, with the goal of helping long-term care homes provide more care in house for a variety of medical issues, rather than sending residents to hospitals to receive it. Rae says that is critical given the strains on the healthcare system.
“It’s about right care, in the right place, and this is really the goal of a lot of the announcements that Minister (Sylvia) Jones (Minister of Health) and Minister (Paul) Calandra (Minister of Long-Term Care) are making, to ensure that our long-term care residents receive high quality care, which they do, in our long-term care homes, and not in our hospitals. So reserving those hospital beds for people that are in true emergencies,” explained Rae.
Regarding the state of local long-term care in his riding, Rae says challenges remain, including staffing, which remains a top priority.
“Our government has committed $4.9 billion over 4 years, and we’re sort of in the middle of that funding allocation, to increase the care we provide residents, direct care, to 4 hours per resident, per day, and the goal was to achieve that by March of 2025, and we’re on track to achieve that goal,” Rae claimed. “There’s also, obviously, a significant amount of money, $6.5 billion for capital upgrades, so whether that’s for beds, new beds, and also upgrading older beds, I know locally, there’s gonna be over 900 beds locally that are gonna be new or upgraded all across Perth-Wellington, and I know we’re rolling that out as quickly as we can.”
The three projects that are splitting the $80,000 announced on April 12 are:
-$8,700 to Spruce Lodge for the purchase of diagnostic equipment to prevent avoidable emergency department visits and hospitalizations
-$52,417 to Kingsway Lodge for the purchase of bariatric equipment and specialized training for staff on dementia, palliative, and wound care to support the admission of residents with bariatric and other complex care needs and to prevent avoidable emergency department visits and hospitalizations
-$19,207 to Kingsway Lodge for the purchase of diagnostic equipment to prevent avoidable emergency department visits and hospitalizations
“Our government is increasing our investment in bold, creative, and innovative solutions that conveniently connect long-term care residents to the specialized care they need in the comfort of their long-term care home instead of a hospital,” said Paul Calandra, Minister of Long-Term Care. “Initiatives like the Local Priorities Fund ensure Ontarians are being connected with the right care in the right place, close to their family and friends.”
