Members of council here are concerned about a proposal that would see 16 nursing home beds reallocated from facilities in Wellington County to one in Cambridge.
Nursing and retirement home operator Caressant Care has submitted a proposal to the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care to transfer nine beds from the company’s facility in Harriston and seven from its Fergus operation to Cambridge Country Manor.
Public meetings on the proposal will be held in both Fergus and Harriston on Nov. 25.
Minto deputy mayor Terry Fisk said he learned of the proposal and upcoming meetings through a ministry notice of public consultation published in the Oct. 24 Wellington Advertiser.
“I personally think the town should be represented,” Fisk stated at the Nov. 4 council meeting.
Fisk, a member of the North Wellington Health Care board of directors, said providing “alternative care” in hospital for people needing nursing home beds is considered a “red flag” by hospital boards.
“People, generally older people, have to stay in hospitals longer because there isn’t a bed available for them in long-term care facilities – and that’s one of the major red flags we have with our small rural hospitals here,” said Fisk.
“Now they’re going to take nine beds away from us, so that’s going to get worse and it’s going to make our hospitals look worse and it’s going to be more costly for the hospitals.
“So I think we need to be careful that we don’t allow this to continue to happen because I wonder if this is just beginning. I wonder if there is more money in these homes in the city than there is in our rural centres?”
Fisk noted the number of beds being transferred from Harriston represents 10 per cent of the total number available. Caressent Care in Harriston currently has 89 long-term care beds, while its Fergus facility has 87 and its Cambridge site has 79.
Caressant Care owns 15 nursing homes and 10 retirement homes (all attached to nursing homes) in Ontario.
Councillor Mary Lou Colwell said the Minto Chamber of Commerce discussed the proposal at a recent meeting and “one of the points was once you give up those beds you’ll never get them back.”
Colwell said the proposal seems to stem from the idea the Harriston Caressant Care facility has a shorter waiting list and occasionally even has vacancies that are filled by residents of nearby cities, “and forcing families to drive further.”
Colwell said the chamber plans to provide a response to the proposal and agreed the town should as well.
“I think we should push back a little bit here,” agreed councillor Dave Turon.
Caressant Care corporate communications director Lee Griffi said the proposed move is a response to occupancy patterns and shouldn’t impact access to beds for local residents.
“One thing people don’t understand is a lot of the people who come to our two long-term care homes in those communities aren’t staying. They’re taking a bed out of their own area until their first or second choice becomes available,” he said.
In a telephone interview Griffi said “very rarely” are there waiting lists at Caressant Care’s Fergus and Harriston locations, and the perception the beds are always filled isn’t accurate.
“That’s simply not the case. If they beds were always filled, we wouldn’t be looking to move them.”
Griffi said the Harriston facility has reached 97 per cent occupancy – “our magic number in terms of funding” – only twice in the past 10 years, while the figure has been reached at the Fergus location only three times in the last decade.
“I would love to see 89 beds filled with people from the Harriston area, but it just doesn’t happen. There’s not enough demand in the local area for all 89 of those beds,” said Griffi adding the Local Health Integration Network “also wants to see those beds filled.”
Griffi said the application is “a bit away” from approval, making it difficult to predict the impact on employment at the two local facilities.
“What it will do is allow us to have consistent staffing patterns. We won’t have to go up and down as occupancy goes up and down … so essentially it should make it better for staff because we anticipate having full beds so it will allow us to keep our staff consistent.”
Griffi also said the company does not make more money from beds in larger urban centres – “We get the same money per bed, whether we’re in Harriston or Cambridge or Lindsay.”
Local public meetings are on Nov. 25 at 10am at the Harriston library and 1pm at the Fergus Sportsplex.
Written submissions to the director of long-term care will be accepted until Nov. 25.
