Province breaks ground on local long-term care expansions

Construction has begun to expand three long-term care homes that will bring approximately 349 new beds to the local community.

As part of the governments plan to greatly expand and upgrade long-term care capacity across the province Kitchener, Cambridge and Guelph will all see additions to existing facilities.

By the summer of 2024, the Elliott long-term care residence in Guelph will have 29 new beds added expanding the facilities capacity to 114.

In Kitchener, the peopleCare A.R. Goudie residence will see a new 128-bed building addition made to the existing facility which currently houses 80 beds, bringing the total capacity to 208.

Lastly, Cambridge’s Fairview Mennonite Homes will see the construction of a new floor and two new wings, upgrading the current residence from 84 beds to 192 beds with the proposed addition of 11 dementia care beds.

The Kitchener and Cambridge additions are expected to open in the fall of 2025.

In a release the province said all expansions will include design improvements with larger common areas and air conditioning throughout.

All three local expansions are among a total of 67 homes that will see upgrades across the province as part of the government’s increase to the construction funding subsidy. That subsidy is designed to speed up construction of long-term care homes across Ontario.

As a result, total of more than 11,000 new and upgraded long-term-care beds are being built across the province.