Hotel Dieu still awaiting promised funding
It has been five months since Hotel Dieu Shaver Rehabilitation Centre was promised a $500,000 planning grant from the provincial government, but the cheque has yet to arrive.
The funding, announced by former MPP Jim Bradley prior to the provincial election, should have been deposited in Hotel Dieu Shaver’s bank account months ago — allowing work to finally begin towards building an expansion that was first proposed more than a decade ago, to meet the growing needs in the region.
Hotel Dieu Shaver communications director Mary Jane Johnson said the rehab centre’s management have remained in regular contact with the Ministry of Health in the months since that announcement was made on May 4, trying to determine the status of the grant.
“Essentially, what they have told us is they’re still getting organized on their side with the new government and they don’t have any updates for us at this time. That was as of a week ago,” Johnson said.
“What we’re looking for now is actually an admin letter than has to come from the ministry saying exactly how we can spend that money and that we have it for sure. At that point, it will come into our bank account.”
The money will pave the way towards adding up to 75 patient beds in a new threestorey tower to be located between the two wings of the existing facility, bringing the rehab centre’s total capacity to about 200 beds.
Despite the delay, Johnson said centre management remain confident that it will ultimately be approved by the new Progressive Conservative government.
“I think that we’re positive because of the recent announcement that they made on surge funding,” she said, referring to $90 million in new provincial funding announced last week by Premier Doug Ford and Health Minister Christine Elliott to help hospitals across the province prepare for increased demand during flu season.
“We see ourselves as a solution in Niagara in helping alleviate those pressures,” she said.
The rehabilitation centre’s proposed expansion also aligns with the priorities identified by the Tories during the election campaign, Johnson added.
Meanwhile, all four Niagara MPPs have been working towards expediting the funding.
Progressive Conservative MPP Sam Oosterhoff, representing Niagara West, has spoken to Elliott about the need for the planning grant, “and hopes to see the project proceed expeditiously,” said his legislative assistant, Gerrit Van Dorland.
St. Catharines MPP Jennie Stevens, who worked at Hotel Dieu for 18 years, said she’s working with her Niagara colleagues “trying to make sure that it (the funding) is still there.”
“I’ve been trying to get a meeting with Christine Elliott over it,” she said. “They definitely need that bed space.”
Niagara Falls MPP Wayne Gates called Hotel Dieu Shaver one of the best rehabilitation centres in the country, adding his wife Rita was a patient there for three months.
“I know exactly the incredible work that they do, and we have to make sure their work is supported,” he said.
Johnson said all Niagara’s MPPs “have been incredibly helpful in helping us get our message across.”
“We’re trying to get Christine Elliott to Niagara to see Hotel Dieu Shaver, and sort of just make that case. We’re hopeful that once we have that conversation we’ll be off to the races,” she said.