KITCHENER -- Officials at Anson Place Care Centre in Hagersville say they’ve reached out to local health authorities on Wednesday to request long-term care staffing help, as the death toll from COVID-19 at the facility rose once again.

Executive Director Lisa Roth issued a statement early Wednesday evening, announcing that two more Covid-19 positive residents have died, bringing the number of deaths to at least 27.

23 of those deaths were from the long-term care portion of the centre, and 4 were from the retirement residence.

However, she noted that the number of deaths could rise, as another death reported yesterday remains unconfirmed by public health.

Roth also says there are currently 44 residents with COVID-19 at the centre:  27 in their long-term care centre, and another 17 in their retirement residence.

In her statement, Roth also noted that they are able to meet the care needs of their retirement residence with their current staff, but that they are “in need of additional staff at our long-term care residence.”

“We are meeting the care needs of our residence, but additional staff would help us shore up our care and services in these challenging times,” Roth noted.“We have communicated our staffing challenges to various partners and to the community this past week.  We have also reaffirmed this need to the HNHB LHIN (Hamilton Niagara Haldimand Brant Local Health Integration Network) today.”

The LHIN is the agency that “plans, integrates and funds” local healthcare, as well as delivers and coordinates home and community care.

Roth adds that they’ve been in close contact with Public health to ensure all necessary protocols are in place.

She says they are grateful for the commitment of all their partners, including the LHIN, Public Health, the Ministry of Health and others “for their ongoing support and willingness to help.”

“I also want to thank the community for their exceptional support that we’ve received over the past few weeks,”she said.“To the families of residents, to the dedicated staff providing compassionate care ... from the bottom of our hearts, thank you.”