A new long-term care home will be built on the Hamilton mountain, as the province announced it’s adding 1,000 new beds and upgrading 800 more at long-term care facilities across Hamilton, Niagara, Haldimand-Norfolk and Brant.
Minister of Long-Term Care Dr. Merrilee Fullerton made the announcement at Shalom Manor retirement residence and long-term care facility in Grimsby on Tuesday.
The new facility in Hamilton is an expansion of Shalom Manor’s Grimsby location and will be built next to Wellingstone Christian Home on Upper Wellington Street near Stone Church Road.
It will be a seven-story building, with two floors of 128 long-term care beds and five floors of assisted living space.
Sam Voorberg, president of Wellingstone, said they’re donating 2.5 acres of land behind the retirement home for the project after Shalom came to them and explained that there is an urgent need for more long-term care space, especially in close proximity to independent living homes.
“If you’re living in the independent living and your partner starts to fail, they could either move to assisted living or to the long-term care,” said Voorberg. “And you’re right next door.
“So you’ve got three levels of care, and that’s so critical in the final years of life.”
Shalom Manor board member Bill van Staalduinen said the new home has been in the planning stages for a long time and is now finally going ahead, with the goal of opening its doors by 2024.
“It’s a dream to provide a long-term care location within the broader region that would be more readily accessible for our seniors and their families who live beyond the Niagara area,” said van Staalduinen.
Two other long-term care homes in Hamilton are benefitting from the province’s announcement, including another facility that has yet to open.
One of those is Baywoods Place, which will receive 128 new beds and see 128 existing beds receive upgrades.
Another 192 beds will open up at a long-term care facility that’s currently under development in Flamborough.
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