Public meetings were held Tuesday in Harriston and Fergus to explain why long-term care beds are being moved from those communities to Cambridge.
Harriston is taking the bigger hit, with nine of its 89 beds on the move.
It’s news that has angered some residents, who voiced concerns that the loss of nine beds may be a prelude to further cuts.
“I’ve got aging grandparents, and aging parents. I don’t want them moved out of the community,” Jessica Hoover told CTV News.
Hoover works at Harriston’s Caressant Care as a PSW. She’s also launched a petition to keep the beds in the community.
Co-worker Joanne McKay supports the petition. In addition to the potential loss of more beds, she’s concerned about what the cuts could mean for staff at the facility.
“You can’t cut nine beds without cutting staff,” she says.
Lee Griffi, the manager of corporate communications at Caressant Care, says the cuts may actually turn out to be a positive for the workers at the facility.
As funding to Caressant Care is based on occupancy levels, the Harriston facility has had to cut hours at times.
While every bed in Harriston is currently full, Griffi says, 16 of the 89 residents have been moved in from outside the area – and even doing that hasn’t been enough to fill the facility in the past.
“We don’t want to see anybody be laid off or have their hours cut back, but that’s been happening now because we can’t fill the beds,” he says.
“For whatever reason, the demand has not been there for long-term care beds in Harriston.”
The demand may not be there, but Jerome Quenneville thinks it will be before long.
As president of North Wellington Health Care and Groves Memorial Hospital, he points to Harriston’s demographics – seven per cent of its population is aged 80 or older – as a sign that more of the community’s long-term care beds could soon be filled with its own residents.
“When you consider that older population that we have, we really don’t have enough (beds),” he says.
In Fergus, seven beds will be moved to Cambridge, where Caressant Care hopes to build a new wing onto its existing facility.
That plan is still awaiting provincial approval.
