Governments have recognized the need to build more personal care home beds in the province for decades. There’s definitely a need to replace decaying facilities, but an aging population is the greater concern.
We have had decades to budget and prepare for the aging demographics.
In 2016, the provincial government promised to build 1,200 beds by 2024. They built 506 beds and closed 303, resulting in a net increase of just 203 beds. In 2023, another 678 beds were promised, with a mere 95 beds currently under construction.
Regionally, the Interlake has had facilities promised for the past 12 years, but none have been built. The promises to build were based on the knowledge that baby boomers would be aging into care and would put incredible pressure on the entire healthcare system. The baby boomer tsunami has begun and will exponentially impact the demand for personal care home beds, hospital beds and emergency rooms for the next decade or two.
In the Interlake region, hospitals are all full, with no excess bed capacity. Patients who should be in a personal care home are tying up hospital beds while waiting for placement. This limits the ability to admit patients from emergency rooms, which then leads to long wait times in emergency rooms or diversions to other facilities. Meanwhile, the patient living in a hospital bed while waiting to get into a care home does not receive the appropriate care and support they would receive in a personal care home, such as recreation and congregate meals.
This trend will only increase. People who require long-term care may need to move away from their home community and, in some cases, to other regions. We saw this in the Interlake during COVID due to the lack of personal care home beds. But it was already a problem before the pandemic – and now it’s getting worse.
The Interlake is the most underserved region for personal care home beds in the province, with 35% fewer beds per capita than the provincial average.
In terms of a hard number, the Interlake is short more than 400 beds, and that number could double in the next decade.
In 2023, the government addressed the shortage in the Interlake with a promise to build four new facilities with a total of 395 beds (Lac du Bonnet 95, Arborg 60, Oakbank 96 and Stonewall 144), addressing today’s shortage but not the need over the next decade.
The announcement of new beds in Lac du Bonnet was particularly interesting. The project was first announced in 2012, then cancelled in 2017 and re-announced in 2023. The good news is that the Lac du Bonnet project finally began construction last month, 12 long years after the first announcement.
The time has come to build more personal care homes in the Interlake. The need is significant across the region, not just in one community, making prioritizing difficult.
We need all the beds that were announced, and we need them now.
We can’t wait another 12 years.
Today’s long-term care facilities are more modern, moving away from the traditional “institutional” environment to a design based around a “physical village model.” This model purposefully incorporates social interaction, functionality, and intergenerational contact while considering affordability and safety.
Residents can thrive with dignity, stimulation, and companionship. This model of care is new to Interlake but can be found in several of the newer facilities across the province.
Interlake residents deserve bed capacity similar to that of the other regions in the province and the opportunity to access a more modern style of care closer to home.
I encourage you to phone and email the Minister of Health, the Premier, and your local MLA to express your concern. Tell them about your experiences, how you feel about the lack of personal care home bed capacity, and your support for accelerating the construction of personal care home projects in Stonewall, Arborg, and Oakbank.
– David Oakley, Interlake Healthcare Sustainability Committee chair
