The province has approved a plan to build 36 beds for frail older rehab patients in a new building in Greater Sudbury.
A news release from St. Joseph’s Continuing Care Centre on Monday said the plan was approved by Ontario Health Minister, Sylvia Jones.
The beds will be located at 319 Lasalle Blvd., with the project proceeding immediately to tender.
“Our government is pleased to give the green light for this significant expansion to St. Joseph’s Continuing Care Centre,” Jones is quoted as saying in a news release.
“This much-needed project will mean older Ontarians in Sudbury and the northeast can receive the rehabilitation care they need in the right place in their communities.”
Over the last few years, many frail older adults have been receiving care temporarily at the Clarion Hotel.
Kari Gervais, president and CEO of St. Joseph’s Health Centre, said the new beds will ease chronically high number of alternative level of care (ALC) patients occupying hospital beds.
ALC patients are people too sick to be at home, but aren’t well enough to be on their own. As a result, they often stay in hospital for extended periods, exacerbating existing bed shortages.
“More significantly, individuals, and particularity frail older adults, will have an opportunity for rehabilitation so they can continue living independently in the community,” Gervais said in the news release.
“Again, we applaud the Government of Ontario for supporting our community with much-needed rehab beds that will provide critical capacity and enable us to move patients out of temporary spaces such as the Clarion Hotel.
It’s a $19.87 million capital project, with St. Joe’s having to raise its share: $2.5 million.
St. Joseph’s is a 64-bed rehabilitation facility and the only stand-alone specialty hospital in the northeast. Because of the capacity crisis, and in collaboration with Health Sciences North, it opened 60 beds at the Clarion Hotel in Sudbury in April 2020.
Those beds will continue to operate, with 36 relocating to the new site once it is complete.
