Over $570,000 to Support Nipissing’s Seniors
June 7, 2024POWASSAN – Today at Eastholme Home for the Aged, Vic Fedeli, MPP for Nipissing announced that the Ontario government is investing $570,717 to three local long-term care homes in Nipissing, to help support residents with complex needs like dementia and bariatric care. The funding, provided through the Local Priorities Fund, will ensure residents can connect to the right care in the right place and help reduce avoidable emergency department visits and hospital stays.
“Through the Local Priorities Fund, our government can enhance support services for our growing aging population in long-term care,” said MPP Vic Fedeli. “We are pleased to see our government making investments into facilities like Eastholme, to improve the resident’s quality of life.”
“Eastholme, Home for the Aged is grateful the for the provincial government’s investment in Long-Term Care with the many recent initiatives including the Local Priorities Fund. We are pleased that Ontario Health and the Ministry of Long-Term Care have approved our application to the Local Priorities Fund. This investment will allow Eastholme, to purchase specialized equipment (a bariatric lift), and to hire staff with specialized training as guided by Behavioural Supports Ontario. This funding is truly important in helping Eastholme to continue to provide excellent care for all of our residents, including those with complex care needs.” Odelia, Callery, Administrator, Eastholme, Home for the Aged.
Funding breakdown is as follows:
- $321,133 for Eastholme Home for The Aged
- $180,900 for Cassellholme
- $68,684 for Algonquin Nursing Home
The funding will be used for items such as IV equipment, bariatrics equipment bed support, bladder scanners, ECGs. LPF funding even goes towards critical everyday things like floor mats, wrap around bed rails, and grab bars.
Launched in 2022, the Local Priorities Fund invested $20 million in 2022-23 to help long-term care homes purchase specialized equipment and train staff to provide more specialized care, so more homes can welcome residents who have complex needs but no longer require acute care in hospital. The fund also helped current residents avoid hospital admissions who have new, or increasingly complex medical or specialized equipment needs which could not be previously accommodated in their long-term care home.
The Local Priorities Fund is part of a broader investment of over $120 million and complements the recently launched Equipment and Training Fund, which helps long-term care homes purchase more diagnostic equipment and train staff to better manage and treat residents’ conditions that often lead to preventable hospital visits, such as urinary tract infections, falls, pneumonia and congestive heart failure.
QUICK FACTS
- Through a $6.4 billion investment, the government is building more than 30,000 net new long-term care beds in Ontario by 2028 and upgrading more than 28,000 older beds to modern design standards.
- The Ontario government is providing up to $1.25 billion this year to long-term care homes to hire and retain thousands more long-term care staff. This is part of the government’s historic four-year commitment of up to $4.9 billion to increase the provincewide average direct care time provided to residents to four hours per day by March 31, 2025