Temiskaming Hospital and Extendicare Inc are partnering to expand the current Health Care Campus at the hospital site on Shepherdson Road in Temiskaming Shores.
The provincial government recently announced this development in a release regarding its commitment to build 30,000 much-needed net new long-term care beds in the province by 2028. Ontario now has 31,705 new and 28,648 upgraded beds in development across the province.
Extendicare received approval for the redevelopment of the existing Extendicare Tri-Town long-term care home with an allocation of 68 new beds and replacement of the current 60 beds to create a 128-bed home through the construction of a new building.
“This is an exciting announcement that will help address our long-standing issue at the hospital.” said Temiskaming Hospital President & CEO, Mike Baker. “Our high occupancy rate has been an issue for several years, fed by very high counts of patients who should be cared for in long-term care setting.”
This past year, the hospital’s occupancy rate averaged 108% for the year, with 11 of the 12 months at or exceeding 100% occupancy. Of the total occupancy last year, 52% were Alternative Level of Care (ALC) patients who would have been more appropriately cared for in long-term care.
“Extendicare has been an outstanding partner in the development of the next phase of the Health Care Campus at the hospital.” continued Baker.” The additional sixty-eight beds will certainly address the hospital’s ALC issue and further reduce the wait list for long-term care spaces in south Timiskaming.”
“We are grateful to the Government of Ontario for approval of our plan to redevelop Extendicare Tri-Town and replace it with a new home built to state-of-the-art design standards, to better serve our current residents and increase care capacity for 68 more seniors in need,“ said Dr. Michael Guerriere, President and CEO of Extendicare. “We look forward to continued collaboration with the Temiskaming Hospital, municipal and system partners in the region, and with our current residents and families to begin planning for the new building together.”
In less than 5 years, the hospital has added four health care partners to the hospital site including Community Cancer Care, Alzheimer Society, Mino M’shki-ki Indigenous Health Team and Keeper’s of The Circle Daycare, to the Canadian Back Institute and VitalAire as existing health care tenants.
“The benefits of having these partners located at the hospital have been significant for patients, family members and our community in general.” concluded Baker.” And we welcome Extendicare’s new development as a further anchor to our health care campus.”