After years of waiting in fear of closure, the province confirmed Friday that a local nursing home will remain open.
MPP Bill Mauro (Lib., Thunder Bay – Atikokan) officially announced that the Bethammi Nursing Home in Thunder Bay would remain open, keeping its 112 in the community.
“By keeping Bethammi open and increasing long-term care capacity, we are addressing the alternate level of care issues in our community,” Mauro said in news release issued to media at a Friday morning news conference.
Mauro believes the investment is a significant step forward in decrease the waiting list for long-term care, and will help take more seniors in need of long-term care out of the hospitals they’re currently residing in.
With acute care beds at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre being occupied by a number of long-term care patients, the resources of the region’s hospital have become strained.
Friday’s announcement, however, does not end this problem.
“With what we’ve announced today, and how significant it is, there continues to be work that we would all acknowledge needs to be done,” Mauro said.
“This is a national problem, we are aging as a population and along with aging comes significant health-care issues.”
The construction of Hogarth Riverview Manor Project is expected to be complete by the end of 2016.
The province is also announcing that next year the government will continue to support the hospital and local organizations by providing transitional funding towards long-term care services.
The North West Community Care Access Centre will receive $4 million to support clients awaiting placements in long-term care homes as well as nearly $3.9 million towards targeted hospital funding supporting patients in transitional beds or in nurse-led outreach services.
