Ontario Breaks Ground on Long-Term Care Home in Ottawa
New home will bring 192 much-needed long-term care beds to the province
OTTAWA — Construction is underway on Southbridge Ottawa, a new 192-bed long-term care home in Nepean. This home is one of 67 long-term care home projects fast-tracked this fall with support from the Ontario government’s increased provincial construction funding subsidy for construction starts before August 31, 2023. This is part of the Ontario government’s commitment to build more than 58,000 new and upgraded long-term care beds across the province.
“Congratulations to the team at Southbridge Ottawa on their ground-breaking for their new home. Our government is fixing long-term care and ensuring we build homes for seniors in the communities they helped build,” said Stan Cho, Minister of Long-Term Care. “Today marks a significant milestone for Ottawa. When construction is complete, 192 additional residents will have a new, modern and comfortable place to call home.”
Southbridge Ottawa is being designed to accommodate residents with a range of cognitive and cultural needs and will feature design improvements, including larger resident common areas and air conditioning throughout the home. The design is centred around ‘resident home areas’, each of which creates a more intimate and familiar living space for up to 32 residents, with dining and activity areas, lounges and bedrooms. It is expected to welcome its first residents in summer 2025.
As a result of the government’s supplemental increase to the construction funding subsidy, which was designed to stimulate the start of construction for more long-term care homes across Ontario, 67 projects received ministry approval to construct between April 1, 2022 and August 31, 2023. This means 11,199 new and upgraded beds are now being built to modern design standards across the province.
The government is fixing long-term care to ensure Ontario’s seniors get the quality of care and quality of life they need and deserve, both now and in the future. The plan is built on four pillars: staffing and care; quality and enforcement; building modern, safe and comfortable homes; and connecting seniors with faster, more convenient access to the services they need.
Quick Facts
- As part of its plan to fix long-term care and address sector waitlists, the government is building more than 30,000 net new long-term care beds in Ontario by 2028 and upgrading more than 28,000 older beds to modern design standards.
- Building more modern, safe and comfortable homes for our seniors is part of the Government of Ontario’s Fixing Long-Term Care Act, 2021.
- The province is taking innovative steps to get long-term care homes built, including modernizing its funding model, selling unused lands with the requirement that long-term care homes be built on portions of the properties, and leveraging hospital-owned land to build urgently needed homes in large urban areas.
- As of September 2023, more than 43,000 people were on the waitlist to access a long-term care bed in Ontario. The median wait time is 118 days for applicants to be placed in long-term care.
Quotes
“For 18 years I have been working to build Nepean up, especially as it comes to our seniors and healthcare. That is why I am so pleased to work with my colleague, Minister Stan Cho, to get this project done. Southbridge Ottawa will compliment existing long term care homes and retirement residences in Nepean, while also helping reduce pressure at the Queensway Carleton Hospital. Building Nepean makes me proud.”
– Lisa MacLeod
MPP for Nepean
“The health and safety of our residents is our number one priority. We thank Minister Cho, MPP MacLeod and the Ministry of Long-Term Care for the opportunity to enhance and prioritize long-term care in Ontario with this new project. We are excited to be breaking ground on this project, our sixth new long-term care home, where residents will experience a modern, safe and community-minded approach to living.”
– Ryan Bell
CEO, Southbridge Health Care
Original Article from the Ontario.ca News
Ashley Seo
Office of the Minister of Long-Term Care
Ashley.Seo@ontario.ca
Ministry of Long-Term Care Media Line
Communications Branch
mltc.media@ontario.ca
November 7th 2023