A job half-done

Re MPPs Defend LTC Beds — letter, Oct 5:
It is proper that our Thunder Bay MPPs Michael Gravelle and Bill Mauro wrote a response to the concerns in the community about a loss of 93 long-term care beds. Unfortunately, the letter to the editor is confusing. A great deal of the letter talks about supportive housing. Supportive housing with assisted living services will not meet the needs of people who require long-term care. It will not provide the medical monitoring or supervision that would be provided in a long-term care home. Long-term care offers higher levels of personal care and support. There is an unrelenting demand for both supportive housing and for long-term care.
Our MPPs are pleased to suggest that when the Centre for Excellence in Integrated Seniors’ Services (CEISS) opens its long-term care beds, residents from three of our aging long-term care homes can move over. They don’t mention that 93 long-term beds from Thunder Bay Interim and LPH Geriatric Unit are being taken out of the system now and only 38 of those beds will be replaced when the Centre for Excellence in Integrated Seniors’ Services is built. We have not seen any statistical projections that will show a drop in demand of this magnitude for long-term care beds. From what we see in the neighbourhood, a family member gets the burden of unfunded support services and hastens her own risk for acute care and long-term care.
Don’t sit back yet, MPPs. You have only half-completed the job.
Sara Williamson
for Thunder Bay Health Coalition