General News

County looking into adding beds at Shelburne’s Dufferin Oaks

March 16, 2018   ·   0 Comments

By Jasen Obermeyer

Dufferin County will investigate the possibility of adding more beds at Dufferin Oaks Long Term Care Home in Shelburne, to meet the needs of the ever-growing senior population in the county.

The approval came at the county’s meeting last Thursday (Mar. 8) after a recommendation from the community services committee for county staff to explore the possibility of adding beds in the future.

Mono Mayor Laura Ryan, chair of the committee, says everything is preliminary; to see if it’s feasible, how many to add to the 160-bed facility, and get a rough idea about costing, and added that staff may even explore putting an addition to the facility or even do a whole new build somewhere else in the county.

“Then that means we’re ready,” she said, pointing to the long wait-list and time frame, and the increasing senior population. “When you’ve got individuals that need round the clock care, and it’s draining on families to try and figure out how they’re going to juggle all their other responsibilities plus look after their loved ones.”

According to recent data from the Central West Local Health Integration Network, Dufferin Oaks’ wait time is 481 days. In Dufferin-Caledon, there are more than 800 people on the wait-list for long-term care beds.

Mayor Ryan said “it would be good for us to have some plans in place,” and by looking into the future, when funding is available, they will be ready, “so it’s not a big huge thing all at once.”

She said this was something that came up in the committee and was very talked about, as the county needs to be thinking about this now. “You have somebody in critical need and you have no place you can offer them to live, you have no place that’s going to be able to give them the support, that’s disturbing.”

         

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