The Ford government is launching a new pilot system to expand options for seniors living at home to receive extra help with things like showering, hot meals or health assessments, as well as additional socializing.
The pilot will run over two years across three sites at a cost of $15 million to see if it can create more options to stay at home and alleviate pressure on the long-term care list.
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“By giving seniors access to more services while living safely at home, the Community Access to Long-Term Care program will improve seniors’ quality of life, support caregivers, reduce avoidable hospital visits and delay the need for live-in long-term care,” Long-Term Care Minister Natalia Kusendova-Bashta said in a statement.
Two of the pilot locations — Brampton’s Peel Manor and Mississauga’s Wellbrook Place — are located in Peel Region. The third location, St. Joseph’s, is in Dundas, Ont.
The program, the government said, is designed to allow people still living at home to receive some additional support at long-term care homes. That includes support from nurses or clinical care.
The pilot follows other moves by the provincial government, like offering paramedic care, to try and make it easier for seniors to live at home and reduce pressure on the growing wait list for long-term care beds.
The government said the pilot was set to be expanded to northern and rural Ontario in the future.
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