TORONTO — The Ontario government, along with Humber River Hospital, Humber Meadows Long-Term Care Home, Infrastructure Ontario and EllisDon, are celebrating the opening of a new, state-of-the-art long-term care home, which is bringing 320 new beds to the City of Toronto. Humber Meadows is the second long-term care home developed under Ontario’s new Accelerated Build Pilot Program, which utilizes hospital-owned land and accelerated construction techniques to get shovels in the ground quickly and build urgently needed long-term care homes sooner in large urban areas. 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.
“I am thrilled to celebrate the opening of the new Humber Meadows as we connect more seniors to round-the-clock care close to home and close to their families,” said Premier Doug Ford. “Our government is moving quickly to create stronger long-term care right across the province by adding thousands of new and upgraded long-term care beds and hiring more long-term care staff, helping to ensure Ontarians have access to the care they need throughout their lives.”
Humber Meadows is a newly established not-for-profit charitable home which will offer tailored services to residents from the Italian community, including receiving service in their own language, traditional food choices, cultural activities and spiritual services. Located at Humber River Hospital’s Finch Campus in North York, Humber Meadows is also part of a campus of care that integrates the long-term care home into the broader health care system to conveniently connect residents to the care they need. This unique partnership will connect residents to specialized care, including bariatric and dialysis support, in the comfort of the long-term care home.
“Our government is fixing long-term care and a key part of that plan is building modern, safe and comfortable homes for our seniors,” said Paul Calandra, Minister of Long-Term Care. “This state-of-the-art long-term care home is a significant milestone for Toronto — Humber Meadows means 320 residents will have a new place to call home.”
Through the Accelerated Build Pilot Program, the government has partnered with Infrastructure Ontario and three hospitals — Trillium Health Partners (Mississauga), Humber River Hospital (Toronto) and Lakeridge Health (Ajax) — to add up to 1,272 net new beds at four new long-term care homes at three sites in the Greater Toronto Area, where scarce and costly land is a significant challenge for prospective long-term care home developers.
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 four pillars: staffing and care; quality and enforcement; building modern, safe and comfortable homes; and connecting seniors with faster, more convenient access to the services they need.
Quick Facts
- Construction at the Lakeridge Gardens accelerated build project in Ajax was completed in early 2022. Construction at Wellbrook Place, the two remaining homes at the Mississauga site, is expected to be completed later this year.
- The Ontario government is on track to build 30,000 much-needed new long-term care beds in the province by 2028, and is redeveloping older beds to modern design standards. Through a $6.4 billion investment, Ontario has 31,705 new and 28,648 upgraded beds in the planning, construction and opening stages of the development process. This will help increase overall bed capacity, address long-term care waitlists and hallway health care, and provide our seniors with the care they deserve.
- Building more modern, safe and comfortable homes for our seniors is part of the Government of Ontario’s Fixing Long-Term Care Act, 2021.
- As of February 2023, more than 39,000 people were on the waitlist to access a long-term care bed in Ontario. The median wait time is 130 days for applicants to be placed in long-term care.
Quotes
“Our goal with Humber Meadows has been to establish a truly person-centred long-term care home where compassionate care and protecting the independence and dignity of every resident is at the heart of everything we do. We worked with government and industry partners to efficiently develop and action the plan for Humber Meadows and are thrilled to open our doors to our community. Ensuring our growing and aging population has access to the care they need, close to home, is a top priority.”
– Sadie Friesner
Executive Director of Humber Meadows Long-Term Care Home
“Humber River Hospital is pleased to partner with Humber Meadows Long-Term Care Home by helping construct and lease both the land and building to HMLTCH. Humber Meadows represents a new and exciting expansion of meaningful health services to the people of northwest Toronto and plays a vital role in strengthening access to innovative care in our community.”
– Barb Collins
President and CEO of Humber River Health
“The Accelerated Build Pilot Program delivers new long-term care homes sooner than a traditional project. The model has accelerated the development of four new long-term care homes in Ontario, including the Humber Meadows Long-Term Care Home. This completed project is just one example of how our government is investing in key infrastructure to build Ontario for families in the years ahead.”
– Kinga Surma
Minister of Infrastructure
SOURCE Province of Ontario
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