New 60-bed nursing home opens in Oromocto, hundreds of beds still needed across N.B.

A new long-term care home is opening in Oromocto, N.B.

Oromocto’s first-ever nursing home has officially opened in the New Brunswick town.

Maple Ridge, which is operated by Enhanced Living, consists of 60 beds divided into four households, with 15 residents per household.

Maple Ridge is also the latest facility to join New Brunswick’s Nursing Home Without Walls network, which offers services to older adults who wish to remain in their own homes.

Some of the services include social visits, meal support, light housekeeping, and help with forms, appointments and technology.

Thirty-six nursing homes have joined the program since it launched in 2019.

Hundreds of beds still needed

While the addition of 60 more beds into New Brunswick’s long-term care system is welcome news for seniors, hundreds of beds are still needed to address the overcrowding in various hospitals across the province.

Jason Lee, the CEO of Enhanced Living, says his group doesn’t have any plans to build another facility in the province at the moment, but if the opportunity emerges to build another long-term care home elsewhere, they would be “all for it.”

In February, Horizon Health Network CEO Margaret Melanson said about 40 per cent of beds at Horizon-run hospitals were being used by alternative-level-of-care patients who are waiting for an opening in one of the province’s long-term care homes.

Cecile Cassista, executive director of the Coalition for Seniors and Nursing Home Residents’ Rights, says the opening of a 60-bed facility in a community that had no long-term care centre is welcomed, but barely puts a dent in the overwhelming need.

“We need more because we still have over 1,000 seniors waiting for placements,” Cassista told CTV News Atlantic. “There’s absolutely no homes on the agenda that I’m aware of. We’ve been asking for homes to be built, but it takes 27 months for that to happen.

“We’re hoping that the government will go back to the drawing board and start working on it so we can accommodate all these seniors that are making their homes in hospital settings.”

Cassista is hoping to see something in next week’s provincial budget that will address the bed shortage.

When asked for a preview of what impacts could be coming to the seniors file in the latest budget, Seniors Minister Lyne Chantal Boudreau wouldn’t provide any details.

The province has previously stated its No. 1 priority in the budget will be health care, which includes care for seniors.

“We want them to be at the safe place in the safe area,” says Boudreau. “Also, when we can recognize that they have all the services that they need to be healthy and be heard and be safe.”

Finance Minister René Legacy will release the provincial budget in the New Brunswick legislature at 1 p.m. Tuesday.

In an email to CTV News, Bruce Macfarlane, senior director of media relations for the Government of New Brunswick, said there were 1,006 people on the nursing home wait list as of Feb. 28. Of those on the list, 471 are in a hospital.

“In the Fredericton area, there are 94 people waiting in hospital for a nursing home placement,” he said.

Macfarlane adds Maple Ridge’s 60 beds are currently full, and the facility has admitted 37 people from hospitals since it opened on Dec. 22, 2025.

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