New and upgraded beds for long-term care residents in Hamilton

The Minister of Long-Term Care made a stop in Hamilton today to announce new and upgraded beds for residents in the city, but there was no official start or completion date provided. The announcement comes as some of the long-term care COVID-19 restrictions were eased in Ontario Monday. After more than a month of strict rules within long-term care, residents with three doses of a vaccine can start taking social day trips and all residents can see more caregivers. Two weeks from today general visits with people 5 years of age or older with at least 2 doses of a COVID-19 vaccine will resume.
The move is a welcome one for long-term care advocate Vivian Stamatopoulos, who says families have been asking for this for a long time but warns that isolation continues to be an issue for homes in an outbreak. “The residents are confined to their rooms, they are eating alone often showers are restricted and sometimes they can’t even walk up and down the halls.”

The ministry tells CHCH News that local public health units determine isolation requirements. Michelle Baird from Hamilton public health says, “New guidance from the ministry does allow for a little more flexibility with respect to isolation periods and using testing to sort of shortening that duration up so I think we are seeing a bit of reprieve now but I would say through December and into January that was certainly a challenge we were experiencing with ongoing exposure.”

While cases and outbreaks continue, there are more than 38 thousand Ontarians still looking for a spot in a long-term care home. Minister Paul Calandra has spent the past two weeks announcing future beds to help alleviate the backlog. “When construction on these homes is completed 747 residents will have a new place to call home near their families and friends in communities that they helped build.”

Five homes that are slated to see the new and upgraded spaces are Dundurn Place, Parkview Nursing Centre, Pine Villa, St. Peters Residence, Chedoke, and Hamilton Continuing Care. The province says a total of 173 new and 574 upgraded beds will be available throughout the city but it’s unclear when this will happen. Calandra says, “we want to have a shovel in the ground as soon as possible.” When asked about additional staff caring for these future beds, he says, “we’re hiring 27 thousand health care workers for our residents.”

The new beds announced are part of the Ford government’s plan to build 30,000 by 2028.