New home approved
Long-term-care home for Havelock is first brand-new home in province in years
HAVELOCK -- A long-awaited 128-bed long-term-care home will be built in Havelock following an announcement Monday afternoon by Health and Long-Term Care Minister Eric Hoskins.
Havelock-Belmont-Methuen Township has pressed the provincial government for years to allow a long-term-care home to be built for the township and the rest of eastern Peterborough County and has even offered up its own site for the home.
“It’s been many years since we’re created a brand-new longterm care home in this province,” Hoskins told a crowd of about 100 people standing on the future site on Old Norwood Rd. Monday.
Hoskins said the community made a “remarkable” effort to make a case for a new long-term care home in Havelock and compete with other municipalities across Ontario.
“It’s a testament to your hard work that you’ve put your project to the fore,” he told the crowd.
The long-term-care home will be part of a “health campus” for the township that would also include affordable and supportive housing for people of all ages, according to a release.
Monday afternoon’s announcement was made under the Ontario government’s plan to fund 5,000 new long-term-care beds over the next four years and more than 30,000 over the next decade.
A licence for the proposed Havelock long-term-care home was previously rejected by the provincial government.
Havelock-Belmont-Methuen Mayor Ron Gerow led a rally at Queen’s Park in Toronto in December 2016 to press the provincial government for funding and approval for the proposed project.
Peterborough County Warden Joe Taylor gave Gerow a lot of credit for having “tirelessly” championed the project, on Monday.
“Mayor Ron Gerow is the engine that drove this bus,” Taylor told the crowd at the announcement.
Gerow seemed elated when he made his remarks.
“Today is a great day for HavelockBelmont-Methuen,” he said.
“Amen!” someone shouted from the crowd.
It’s been a long wait, Gerow pointed out: “But today we wait no more!”
Gerow thanked Hoskins as well as township council, staff, citizens and especially Minister of Agriculture, Rural Affairs and Peterborough MPP Jeff Leal.
“Jeff, you’ve been a saint,” Gerow said.
Leal said Havelock-BelmontMethuen Township plans to partner with the Peterborough landlord AON Inc. to build the new long-term-care home.
AON Inc. owns and operates all the Gardens retirement homes in Peterborough, as well as two longterm care homes: Centennial Place in Millbrook and Moira Place in Tweed.
AON Inc. announced plans last week to buy a 23-acre portion of the Kawartha Golf and Country Club at the end of 2018 and build a full-service retirement home plus luxury apartments and condos for seniors.
“Their standard is second to none,” Leal said of AON.
The announcement of the new long-term care home comes less than four months away from the June 7 provincial election where Leal is seeking a fifth term as Liberal MPP for the riding. Leal is being challenged by Progressive Conservative MPP David Smith, NDP candidate Sean Conway and Green candidate Gianne Broughton.
Smith responded to the announcement Monday by saying that Leal “will just say anything to get elected.”
“For 15 long years, the Liberals have sat on their hands as longterm care in Ontario and the Peterborough-Kawartha area descended into a crisis,” Smith stated.
“Havelock has been fighting for improved access to long-term care for more than a decade, but it’s only now, less than four months before an election where they need votes, that the Wynne Liberals decided to show up. Our seniors deserve better.”
Smith said 32,000 people in Ontario are on waiting lists for long-term care and no new beds have been approved by the Liberal government over the past 15 years.
But Hoskins says the provincial government’s annual funding for long-term care since 2003 has increased from $2.1 billion to $4.14 billion and says the province has a long-term plan to create 30,000 new long-term care beds over the next 10 years while redeveloping 30,000 long-term care beds in 300 homes across the province by 2025, including eliminating all four-bed wards.
Under riding redistribution, the winner of the June 7 election will represent the Peterborough Kawartha riding, which will gain North Kawartha and Trent Lakes townships, while losing Asphodel Norwood and Otonabee-South Monaghan townships.
Hoskins also announced $500,000 in provincial funding on Monday afternoon to help plan for a new hospital for Picton, a proposed $76-million facility that could be built by 2024 or 2025.