First residents of new Fredericton nursing home to come from hospital

A new two-storey, 60-bed nursing home on Fredericton's north side will welcome its first residents on Tuesday — directly from the Dr. Everett Chalmers Hospital.

The overcrowded hospital is under a "critical state" protocol, meaning seniors taking up beds while waiting to get into nursing homes are to get priority when places become available.

Shannex will operate the new home, named Medley Hall after Margaret Medley, a nurse and the wife of Fredericton's first bishop, John Medley.

Medley Hall — with its theatre, chapel, café, salon and indoor "Main Street" — was the site of a news conference and tour on Friday.

Kathy Bockus, minister responsible for seniors, said the new home will help overcrowded hospitals move out of their "critical state."

"It does mean that we're able to move some of our long-term-care patients or residents from the hospital into this nursing home to free up those very vital hospital beds."

A critical state was declared for the Chalmers late last month and will remain until at least late February.  

Housing Minister Jill Green said about 25 of the beds at Medley Hall will be given to patients at Chalmers over the next 2½ weeks.

Jason Shannon, the president of Shannex, said he expects the new home to reach capacity quickly.

"We normally take about 10 to 12 people a week, so it won't take long to fill 60 beds," he said. "So hopefully in the next five or six weeks the building will be filled."

WATCH | 'We're looking this as an opportunity to get people out of hospital'

Patients from 'critical state' hospital to be first residents of new nursing home

10 months ago

Duration 0:45

The 60-bed Medley Hall will open next week in Fredericton, ready to welcome about 25 residents straight from Chalmers Hospital.

A shortage of workers has been an issue at nursing homes throughout the province. The New Brunswick Council of Nursing Home Unions said that as of mid-January there were at least 245 vacant beds, so homes weren't operating at capacity. The union said better wages would help attract and retain workers.

But Medley Hall is fully staffed, Shannon said, and Shannex has been working with the Department of Immigration to bring new employees to New Brunswick to help staff nursing homes.

Green said the number of unfilled nursing home beds has improved since January. She did not have a current figure but said work is being done to bring the number to as close to zero as possible. Asked about what nursing home workers consider low pay, Green said she could not talk about wage increases now.

"We're very aware how critical the staff are in both health care and nursing homes and we want to provide them as much support as we possibly can because we need them."

Shannon said he's happy to see the new 60-bed facility open after 20 months of construction.

"We're sitting here with a lot of optimism and excitement and we can't wait for the first resident to get here."

One of the home's first residents, 82-year-old Wendell Ross, visited the home Friday morning to cut the ribbon, take a tour and enjoy his first double-double in the cafe. Ross will be moving from the Chalmers to the hall on Tuesday.