Peel Region needs as many as 4 more LTC homes to meet demand, it says

The wait list for a long-term care bed in Peel Region is so long that the region may "never" catch up, a spokesperson says.

The list has grown by 40 per cent from 2020, when there were 1,800 seniors on the list, the region says. And last year, more than 10,000 people applied for a bed, spokesperson Dan Brennan told CBC News in an emailed statement.

To be able to meet the demand, Brennan says the region would need to buildas many asfour timesmore facilities than it currently has.

"You'd have to build very quickly and obviously we're not building quick enough because there is a wait list," Brennan said.

The region has about 700 beds all of them taken. Meanwhile, there are some 2,700 seniors currently on the waiting list.

Brennan says the region's five long-term care homes are at capacity, and to provide beds for people on the growing wait list, the region might need build as many as 20facilities. Currently there are none being built and the region says it doesn't have the funding to expand existing service levels.

An administrator at Brampton's Tall Pines Long-Term Care Centre says she worries about people who are left behind, waiting for the care they need to survive.

"It means that we failed. We are putting them in a situation where they're not able to still thrive," Jessica Altenor said.

"Because that's going to be us one day. So, it does worry me," she said.

Region asks for provincial funding

The region says it's asking the Ontario government for $4 million for the expansion of senior supports like respite care and adult day services for seniors on the waiting list at all its centres.

"Bottom line, what is required to address burgeoning LTC wait lists is a sea change towards upstream [provincial] funding into community supports to decrease the demand for LTC care that will never be met by attempting to build more LTC homes," Brennan said.

Peel stands last in provincial funding for social services compared to Toronto, Ottawa, York, Durham, Waterloo and Hamilton, according to a May report by non-profit research company Blueprint,commissioned by an association of Peel charities called Metamorphosis.

That report shows an annual shortfall of $868 million from the province in social services, which include senior supports like long-term care and municipal programs for seniors.

A spokesperson for Ontario's Ministry of Long-Term Care told CBC Toronto that Peel Region receives $3 million from the province annually towards community paramedicine program in long-term care.

"This program provides individuals with complex needs that are awaiting long-term care more support at home by paramedics," Rubab Sarwar said in the emailed statement.

Sarwar did not answer questions about whether or not the ministry will provide the $4 million for the expansion of long-term care programs in Peel and address the shortfall.

Sarwar said there were some 47,000 people awaiting a long-term care bed across Ontario as of June 2023, the most recent numbers provided, and that the ministry is spending $6.4 billion to build 58,000 new and upgraded beds in the province to address that demand.

The province did not share how much of the increased funding will go to Peel.

Situation 'disheartening,' says caregiver

Eugenie Renata Bruce, 89, says she was told to expect a long wait for an LTC bed after being discharged from the hospital following treatment for heart failure and bleeding valves in November.

Her daughter took care of her for the next three monthsbut developed prolapsed organs from lifting her regularly, Bruce says.

It's a situation they say was a "crisis," and led to both women being hospitalized multiple times.

Given her condition, nurses looking after Bruce bumped her up the wait list for long-term care, Bruce says. That helped her reserve a spot at Brampton's Tall Pines Long-Term Care Centre in January.

"We were so lucky," Bruce said. "It gives me hope for maybe another two or three years of life and I'd be grateful for it."

But Bruce's daughter, Lillyan McGinn, says it's "disheartening" to know many people like her won't get the long-term care support for their parents, which she says can have physical and emotional impacts on caregivers' health.

Since moving into long-term care, Bruce says her health has improved to the point where she could get the heart surgery she was previously unfit to get.

It's a far cry from November last year when she was incapable of doing things that brought joy to her life like painting, she says.

Now, her paintings fill the walls at Tall Pines long-term care home, where she hopes to make new friends.