Thunder Bay's St. Joseph's lobbies LHIN to keep Bethammi Nursing Home open
Bethammi nursing home in Thunder Bay currently slated for closure in summer of 2016
Officials with St. Joseph's Care Group in Thunder Bay say they have a solution to alleviate gridlock at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre.
St. Joseph's is lobbying the Ontario government to keep one of its older long-term care facilities in Thunder Bay open.
The organization's Bethammi Nursing Home on Carrie Street is slated to close in 2016, but vice president Scott Potts said talks are underway with the North West Local Health Integration Network to keep Bethammi open.
"[There is a] significant need in Thunder Bay for long-term care bed capacity, because the project we're currently doing only actually adds 38 new beds," Potts said.
That current project is an $84 million expansion of Hogarth Riverview Manor on Lillie Street. Once it's completed in fall 2015, two city-run homes for the aged will close. Their 300 residents will transfer to the new facility, joining the just-under 100 people who currently live at Hogarth Riverview Manor.
Bethammi is slated to close in 2016, with its residents transferring to a number of homes around Thunder Bay, including the new expansion.
Keeping beds in the system
Over the past few years the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre has consistently faced periods of gridlock, where it has more incoming patients than available beds because of shortage of long-term care beds in the rest of the community.
If Bethammi remains open, current residents would not have to transfer to other homes in the city, including the new expansion – although they could if they desired.
The end result is that Bethammi's current contingent of just over 100 beds stays in the mix, Potts explained.
"The Bethammi solution will definitely assist with [the lack of beds at Thunder Bay's hospital]," he said.
"It's not the whole solution, but it's a key component of the solution."
St. Joseph's Care Group hopes to learn this fall whether the LHIN will fund the extra beds, Potts said.