$2.5 million planning grant announcement helping bring new 96 bed long-term care home closer to reality in Sioux Lookout

Tim Brody - Editor

The Sioux Lookout Meno Ya Win Health Centre (SLMHC) will receive a $2.5 million Planning Grant from the Provincial Government to bring a 96 bed long-term project from the planning stage into the construction stage. 
Minister of Long-Term Care Natalia Kusendova-Bashta made the announcement last week on Dec. 5 during Question Period in the Legislative Assembly in response to questioning from Kiiwetinoong MPP Sol Mamakwa.
“The people of Sioux Lookout and surrounding communities have been advocating for more long-term care beds close to home for many years. Since 2018, this government has promised to build a new long-term care facility with 76 new long-term care beds. To the Minister of Long-Term Care, 
What tangible steps is this Government taking to deliver the long promised 76 long term care beds in Sioux Lookout? Mamakwa posed.Th

Kusendova-Bashta responded, “Back in May, right here in this Chamber, the Premier made a commitment to the Member opposite to get this home built in Sioux Lookout. Well Speaker, I’m happy to say that today we are delivering on that commitment, and we just recently approved a $2.5 million Planning Grant to be provided to Sioux Lookout Meno Ya Win Health Centre. Speaker, this Planning Grant means that this 96 bed project can now advance from the planning stage of development into the construction stage, with that, we’ve taken a major step forward in building a home so that Sioux Lookout residents can receive proper, culturally focused long-term care services in their community.”
To which Mamakwa responded, “Thank you to the Minister of Long-Term Care for sharing the news. However, community members from Sioux Lookout may be skeptical of this Government’s words after years of seeing promises without actions to fulfill those promises. Speaker, will the Minister of Long-Term Care share a timeline for when the residents of Sioux Lookout can expect the long-term care beds to be operational in Sioux Lookout?”
While the Minister of Long-Term Care did not provide a timeline, she did respond, “Speaker, make no mistake, our Government is getting this home built.”
Kusendova-Bashta said getting the long-term care facility built in Sioux Lookout is the “right thing to do”. “The people of Sioux Lookout deserve this long-term care home, so I want to thank that Member for his leadership. Today is truly a celebration of his work,” she stated.
SLMHC had previously shared in a May 28 media release, “Having a large number of Alternate Level of Care (ALC) patients in our hospital has impacted our ability to get acute care patients out of our Emergency Department and into a bed. The lack of beds has also impacted our ability to repatriate our patients back from other facilities in a timely manner, such as Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre,” SLMHC President and Chief Executive Officer Dean Osmond said.
SLMHC shared that currently there are 21 licensed beds at the William A. George Extended Care Facility. In 2018, the provincial government allocated an additional 76 long-term care beds. The average wait for a long-term care bed at the William A. George Extended Care Facility is approximately 
seven years.
Sioux Lookout Mayor Doug Lawrance shared in a Nov. 2, 2023, story run by The Bulletin, “The need for additional long-term care beds in Sioux Lookout has been recognized for decades. Currently there are twenty-one licenced beds at the Bill George Centre.  Studies, needs assessments, and waiting lists have all documented the growing need. Directly to the point, one need only look at the number of acute care beds (54) in the Meno Ya Win Health Centre now used as ‘alternative level care’ (ALC) beds for patients who should be in long term care rather than acute care. The percentage of acute care beds used as ALC beds in Meno Ya Win fluctuates around 50% to 60% and this number continues to grow. This has negative impacts not only at Meno Ya Win but also downstream in the acute health care system at Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre and beyond. Furthermore, the limited availability to home care services and supported living for seniors in Sioux Lookout creates upwards pressure into long term care – in our case alternative level care in a hospital bed. Never mind the poor economics of all this, the impact on patients, families, and health care staff is, at this stage, inexcusable.”

Osmond said of the Minister’s Dec. 5 announcement, “The Honorable Natalia Kusendova-Bashta, Minister of Long-Term Care, announced a one-time Planning Grant to support detailed planning to enable the project to proceed to the construction stage, providing culturally focused long-term care services to residents of Sioux Lookout and across the region. We have received a planning grant up to $2,500,000 for a new 96-bed long-term care (LTC) home. This money will support the costs undertaken to complete the required planning, design and tender-ready submissions for the project. The new build will be part of the hospital, which was part of the original design when the hospital itself was built,” Osmond said. “We have been assigned a project manager from the Ministry, who we will be working with throughout the process. It has been a long journey, but this announcement makes it all worthwhile. Our critically-needed LTC facility will finally become a reality. I look forward to collaborating with the Ministry of Long-Term Care to see this project through.”
Osmond clarified that the $2.5 million does not cover the cost of the construction of the long-term care home itself.
Lawrance said of the announcement, “Late last week in the Legislature, in response to a question by our Member of Provincial Parliament Sol Mamakwa, the Minister of Long Term Care, The Honourable Natalia Kushendova-Bashta, announced that the Ontario Government has approved a $2.5 million planning grant for the development of new long term care beds in Sioux Lookout.  This is a very significant announcement and included the phrase, “make no mistake, our Government is getting this home built.”  So, we can be grateful to the Ontario Government for this important step and commitment, while we also acknowledge that it will still be several years before doors open.  It is also important to acknowledge all the diligent and persistent work done by the administration, staff, and governance at Meno Ya Win Health Centre, over many, many years to bring this critical resource to reality. And we are grateful to our MPP, Sol Mamakwa, for his support and influence to bring about this milestone. The people of Sioux Lookout and the region served by Sioux Lookout are in desperate need of these spaces.  People who are in need of long term care in our region are waiting years, being accommodated in our acute care hospital, being sent hundreds and hundreds of kilometres from home and families, or just not getting the care they need.  This announcement is a huge step in changing things for the better and on behalf of Council, the Municipality, and the people of Sioux Lookout I say thank you.”