The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

economist sunsuntribune saturday july 26 2003 1 i rebuilding time for aging nursing ho york longterm care facilities among 130 across province mandated for redevelopment by simone joseph staff writer eileen stewart often bumps into the toilet and- sink as she tries to turn heralker around at night in the tmyjwashroom she shares with another resident at bethany lodge but for residents who suffer from alzheimers diseasebr deriientiafthe unionville homeis large dinrngrtfom presents the greatest nuisancethe chattering of 90 residents and kitchen staff arid the s sounds i of dat- tering dishes can tie irritating with a large dining room thejs more noise mpre stimulation which mcreasje confusion aiid-gi- tation explaihecilcjian cairns dufeje- tor of care at bethany lodge staff at me long-terhrcafefffir- ty hope after a i2million renova tion residents wiu be more com- fortable arid better served the home is one of the 130 long- term care facilities across the province identified by the ministry of health and longterm care as needing redevelopment because they dp not meet design standards introduced in 1998 the deadline for redevelop ment is march 2006 for facilities that dont require as much work but still need to be upgraded the deadline for improvements is december 2003 for new or existing facilities that have been granted riewbeds the deadline is 2004 homes built before the 1990s were not designed for people in wheelchairs or people i with higher care needs said margaret ringland a spokesperson for the ontario association of nortprbfit homes and services for seniors those facilities were more like retirement homes ftprri a time when residents were mainly look ing for social supports planned meals and organized activities rather than highlevel nursing care but in the past decade several changes have rhade it necessary for older facilities to be updatedthe provincial government changed the criteria for longterm care admission in the 1990s to accept more residents needing care around the clock in 1993 the government passed an act allowing medical treatments such as catheterization kidney dialysis and oxygen therapies pre viously prohibited from being per formed in longterm care facilities said shawn turner regional direc tor of york regions longterm care and seniors branch the number of chronic care beds mime province i has also been reduced since the mid- 90s so many patientepreviously cared for in hospitals are now in longterm staff photosjoerd witteveen anna jennings an administrator at markhaven home for seniors oversees construction mandated by newproyincial guidelines care facilities mr turner said the result is incoming residents require a higher level of care margaret ringland said they are coming in a different state tharilo to 12 years ago they are coniing in much older than they used to they are coming in with fnore problems than they used to your new resident has changed dra matically from one who might have walked in to one who comes in bri a stretcher- its the little nonprofit homes that have the trouble they have ho reserves to fall back on the average age of residents in nursing hoihes has gone from about 78 a decade ago to about 85 today she said v also an increasing number of residents need help withbasic tasks of everyday living according to analysis froin trie ontario association of nonprofit homes arid services for seniors the num ber of residents needing help dress ing has gone up by 20 per cent from 1993 to 2001 i the number of residents need ing help going to the washfobrri has also increased by 13 per cent at the 101bed bethany lodge this change has beeri noticeable while 10 years ago there were just a few wheelchairs and walkers today the tables at dinner time are dotted with mobility aids wheelchairs are stacked outside the dining room because s mereisnti enough space to keep all of them in the hall and still have staff move easily around tables to carefpr patients with greater needs a different type of facility is required mnlurnersaid i to deliver higher levels 3fcare 2 you need larger spaces wider cor ridors different lifting equipment it has a significant mpact on me design v bethany lodges renovatioris will include larger washrooms and two new levels dining rbpiriswill house fewer residents andthekitchenwill riot be next to the diriing robnlas it is now making mealtime 1 noisy y but these improvements can be cpstiy municipal homes can often tip iritamunldpal furiding forprofit homes are usually part of lairge organizations or chains arid have capital reserves set aside or have enough clout to get a good horrowing rate from the bank but for many nonprofit charita- facilities such as bethany lodged raising money to make gov ernmentordered renovations can be challenging traditionally surpluses at non profit homes go back into running the home and improving programs rather than being- set aside for future building ms ringland said the ministry is demanding we build to a certain standard land we are not getting erioughtndneyto build to these standards its the little nonprofit homes that have the trouble they have rib reserves to fall back on she said q untilrecently we tioiiprofit cliaritabie riursmghomesjhayerit had an infusipriof cash its just iii the last few years there has beeri an injection of funding some longterm care adminis trators find government funding insufficient to introduce changes the ministry of health and long- term care requires for example the ministry gives up to 75000 per bed but anna jennings administrator at the 43- yearold markhaven home for seniors iri markham said the building cannot meet ministry expectations unless it spends 100000 or more the ministry is demanding we build to a certain standard and we are not getting enough money to build to these standards so the homes often have to launch riiassive fundraising cam paigns staff at longterm care facilities have also had to deal with what ms jennings calls donor fatigue fundraisers often find themselves having to tap the same potential doriors for funding another complaint shared by longterm care administrators is the province no longer gives fund- ing until after a project is com- pletei leaving homes searching for iways to cover construction costs in the interim but according to the ontario ministry of health and longterm care homes can apply for up to an extra 12 months to get funding for redevelopment markham museum 9350 highway 48 markham ontario l3p 3j3 905 2944576 m m m mm