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The Fairhaven long-term care home is facing a $204,000 loss in funding, the facility’s executive director told Global News on Thursday.
Lionel Towns says the funding loss could affect staffing and nursing at the 256-bed Peterborough home, but he called it a last resort.
“We would do anything in our power before we did that,” said Towns. “We don’t want anything to impact resident care and that is our primary focus. We would do any other measures first before we did that.”
The facility is jointly owned by the City and County of Peterborough.
READ MORE: 34 local health jobs in the Hamilton-Niagara region to be eliminated: province
The city is paying $1.1 million this year to operate the home, while the county has budgeted $558,333.
Fairhaven is a mandated service by the province that the city and county must provide.
“We’ll try to do the best we can, but when you’re handed this deck of cards, the only way to get more funding is to go back to the city and county and ask for more money,” said Keith Riel, committee board chair for Fairhaven and city councillor.
The facility also receives per diem per resident money for personal care and food.
Each year, the funding increases by about 2 per cent, but now it’s falling to below one per cent.
“With inflation at 2 per cent, with increased needs in our homes in the province going up by 1 to 2 per cent at least, that’s a total of 3-to-4 per cent,” added Towns. “We’re only getting 1 per cent. That’s difficult to make it work financially.”
It is not yet known how many staff members will be affected by the funding loss.
The first wave of funding loss is Aug. 1, with the full impact being felt by the facility in April 2020.
Global News has reached out to the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care for comment on the matter.
WATCH (April 2019): Peterborough city council reviews new plan for new long-term care home
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