Chatham-Kent council isn’t giving up on maintaining the number of long term care beds in the municipality.
The owners of Tilbury Manor are planning to relocate the home’s 75 beds to a new facility in Belle River.
West Kent Councillor Melissa Harrigan is asking municipal staff to work with the current owners of Tilbury Manor as well as the Ministry of Long Term Care and any prospective buyers or redevelopers.
“While there is still consultation in progress, what this recommendation does is it really directs staff to be prepared for the loss of that long term care home and think about what we could potentially do in attracting other partners to the table to ensure that our seniors have good care.”
April Rietdyk, Chatham-Kent’s general manager of community human services says there’s still time.
“We have a couple of years really before Tilbury Manor will close and move to that Belle River location,” Rietdyk says. “What this does provide us is the opportunity to come together as a community and work with the current owners of the facility, and we are really just as the beginning stages of that.”
Rietdyk is hoping to hold a meeting involving the facility’s owners, economic development staff, and other stakeholders to see what could be done to maintain long term care beds in Tilbury.
