The Independent

A plea to reconsider a $12 million, 12 bed dementia care unit at Lambton Meadowview in Petrolia has been ignored.

Heather Martin, CEO at Vision Nursing Home for the past 37 years, urged the politicians to reconsider building Ontario’s first Small House Project for dementia patients in a letter to Lambton County Councillors Wednesday. She had hoped to speak to council about her concerns, but council opted not to reconsider the project and allow Martin to publicly voice her opinions.

“It’s an innovative, creative idea but it’s not affordable,” said Martin said Friday in an interview with The Independent.  “It’s not a good business decision. Putting this burden on the taxpayer isn’t called for.”

The project started out smaller and for a quarter of the cost but has mushroomed in size and expense over the past four years. What began as a 10-bed addition costing $3.6 million in 2020 was approved in October as a 12-bed addition costing $12.2 million.

“If it was a $6 million project, it would be okay. But in whose world do we build $1-million long term care beds?” Martin asked. “This is crazy.”

Michael Gorgey, Lambton County’s general manager of Long Term Care said the National Institute on Aging says long term care should move away from larger institutions with wards to smaller, home-like settings. The Meadowview project, the first in Ontario, provides a private bedroom and washroom to each resident. There is a small group a place to live, dine and socialize together.

“These beds are for people with complex dementia who are often denied space in long term care,” he said.  “A lot of people with behaviours that make them unsafe are given more of a home environment, less interaction with others, and they experience reduced hospitalization, lower incidents of infections, less violence, and require less anti-psychotic medications.

“The cost of construction is higher but there are real benefits to it,” he said.

The county has to begin work on the unit by March 31 or risk losing $3.6 million in provincial funding for the project.