KAWARTHA LAKES-Standing in front of a Pinecrest Pollinator Garden plaque dedicated to honour the residents who died of COVID -19, MPP Laurie Scott announced the province is funding 63 new and 65 upgraded beds at Pinecrest Nursing Home in Bobcaygeon.
This brings the total of new long-term care beds in development or under construction to 300 and the total of upgraded long-term care beds to 436 for Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock according to MPP Laurie Scott.
“Today’s announcement for Pinecrest Nursing Home is part of our plan to fix long-term care and ensure seniors get the quality of care they need and deserve,” said Laurie Scott, MPP for Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock. “We saw how remarkable the local healthcare staff were at Pinecrest during the pandemic and this funding is another part of our plan to improve staffing and care, accountability, enforcement, and transparency by building modern, safe, comfortable homes for seniors.”
According to Scott “upgraded beds” the beds that are currently at Pinecrest will go into the new facility which is to be built.
“On behalf of Pinecrest I wanted to thank you Laurie for being here today, we appreciate all of your efforts to manage COVID-19 throughout the pandemic in support of Pinecrest and helping us to secure this exciting opportunity to better service our community.” said Janelle Whalen, Executive Director, Pinecrest.
29 of Pinecrest’s 65 residents died of COVID during the pandemic and a number of staff were also infected. Read more here:https://www.kawartha411.ca/2021/08/03/ministry-inspection-finds-pinecrest-nursing-home-waited-several-days-to-report-2020-coronavirus-outbreak-to-public-health-28-residents-later-died/
“Our government has a plan to fix long-term care and a key part of that plan is building modern, safe, and comfortable homes for our seniors,” said Paul Calandra, Minister of Long-Term Care. “When the construction at this home is complete, it will be a place for local seniors to call home, near their family and friends.”
The home is privately owned and some residents question why the government is not focusing on municipally run homes instead.
“We take applications for beds and the focus has been on older homes no matter who owns them to upgrade those facilities as fast as we can. Pinecrest applied pre-pandemic. It’s an older home, my dad was here more than 20 years ago.” Scott explains.
Scott says Ontario has 31,705 new and 28,648 upgraded beds in the development pipeline — which means the province is on track to deliver 30,000 net new beds by 2028.