Ontario’s NDP party is calling on the provincial government to keep long term care beds in Tilbury.
The owners of Tilbury Manor are planning to relocate the home’s 75 beds to a new facility in Belle River. The plan, if approved would combine Tilbury’s 75 beds with another 85 allocated by the Ministry of Long Term Care.
The NDP’s Long Term Care critic Sara Singh is calling on the Ford government to deny the owners’ application to move those beds.
“When operators are putting profits before care, this is the outcome where residents’ needs, the community’s needs are not being considered,” Singh says. “We’re proud to echo the call to the provincial government to deny the application to move this Tilbury residence over to another community.”
Essex NDP MPP Taras Natyshak says families will suffer if Tilbury Manor is closed and the beds are moved.
“Spouses could be separated,” Natyshak says. “With elderly parents and grandparents living farther away, adult children’s daily pop-ins may end. More time spent driving to see loved ones in long-term care means less time to help mom brush her hair and get dressed, or help dad with his meal, and less time for visits with grandkids.”
Kathy Cottingham heads up the Tilbury Area Action Team, and says moving 75 local nursing home residents out of the community will cause undue misery for the residents and their families.
“Hampered by finances, lack of licenses, cars, rides, and their hesitancy to drive in inclement weather, their aged loved ones will be forced to limit their now daily visits,” Cottingham says. “After experiencing Covid-19, further forced isolation of these residents can only be described as abuse. We are asking government to deny this application.”
Municipal officials have already reached out to the facility’s owners to see what can be done to maintain those long term care beds.
April Rietdyk, Chatham-Kent’s General Manager of Community Human Services has said there is still time to save Tilbury Manor, as construction isn’t expected to begin until next summer.