Thunder Bay Long-Term Care Homes Advocate for Flexible Funding to Enhance Services

Long-term care homes in Thunder Bay, Ont., are celebrating recent facility upgrades supported by provincial funding.

Thunder Bay-Atikokan MPP Kevin Holland visited Southbridge Pinewood on Tuesday to discuss the province’s local priorities fund, which distributed over $2 million to the following long-term care homes in the city for the 2023-24 year:

• St. Joseph’s Care Group, operating Bethammi Nursing Home and Hogarth Riverview Manor, received over $860,000.
• Southbridge Lakehead received nearly $480,000.
• Southbridge Pinewood received more than $200,000.
• Southbridge Roseview received over $525,000.

Launched two years ago, the fund aims to help long-term care (LTC) homes acquire specialized equipment and provide staff training to meet residents’ unique needs.

“Being able to provide some of the care that typically would require patients to travel to the hospital — being able to provide that in the homes where they’re living is better for the patient, better for the health-care providers and for the system in general,” said Holland.

Improvements include new bathing equipment, beds, lifts, plate warmers, heated/cooled food transportation carts, and additional training and care for people with dementia.