Construction is underway on a brand new building for Maple View Lodge, a long-term care facility in Athens. This is part of the government's $6.4 billion commitment to build more than 30,000 new beds by 2028 and 28,000 upgraded long-term care beds across the province.
Maple View Lodge will continue to be operated by the United Counties of Leeds and Grenville, and will welcome new residents in early 2025. The home will include:
- 132 new beds
- 60 existing beds
- Total of 192 modern long-term care beds in Athens
- New building will include specific design improvements
- Semi-private and private rooms
- No ward rooms
- Larger resident common areas
- Air conditioning throughout the home
Govt-Monitor reports that the new Maple View Lodge will offer:
- Specialized health care
- Behavioural support
- Palliative care services
- Will ensure that residents have access to the care they need
- Help address the growing demand for long-term care which has increased wait times for beds and contributed to hallway health care
"Congratulations to Maple View Lodge on the ground-breaking for their home expansion project. Our government is fixing long-term care and a key part of that plan is building modern, safe and comfortable homes for our seniors. Today's construction start is a significant milestone for Athens - and will bring 132 new beds to the United Counties of Leeds and Grenville."
Minister of Long-Term Care | Paul Calandra
Ontario Newsroom states that the government is fixing long-term care to ensure Ontario's seniors get the quality of care and quality of life they need and deserve both now and in the future. The plan is built on the following three pillars:
- Staffing and care
- Accountability, enforcement and transparency
- Building modern, safe, comfortable homes for seniors
Building new long-term care homes and redeveloping existing older homes to modern standards is part of the Government of Ontario's Long-Term Care Modernization Plan.
The province is taking steps to get long-term care homes built, including modernizing its funding model, selling unused lands with the requirement that long-term care homes be built on portions of the properties, and leveraging hospital-owned land to build urgently needed homes in large urban areas.
Since June 2022, more than 39,000 people were on the waitlist to get a long-term care bed in Ontario. The median wait time is 120 days for applicants to be placed in long-term care.