Premier Jason Kenney announced Tuesday that the province will soon be home to more continuing-care spaces.
As part of the initiative, the province will be starting a new process that will allow existing operators with additional space to apply to add continuing-care spaces to their facilities.
“I am very happy today to announce that Alberta’s government is launching a plan to create hundreds of new spaces in communities across Alberta that need them most,” Kenney said.
Kenney said the new spaces will allow Albertans to access continuing care in the places they call home.
Under the new initiative, Alberta Health Services will be accepting proposals from new and existing continuing-care operators to add publicly funded spaces without additional capital funding.
Kenney noted that requests for these new spaces will be posted in priority communities across the province that are most in need of more continuing-care spaces, including Alberta’s major cities and some smaller communities.
“Operators located in priority communities are invited to apply if they have space that can be made into publicly operated space,” Kenney said.
The expansion of existing facilities builds on the Affordable Supportive Living Initiative and is part of Alberta’s $164 million in capital funding to create more continuing-care spaces across the province over the next three years.
The new spaces will be added as “quickly and cost-effectively as possible,” Kenney said, however, he added the government also plans to build new continuing-care facilities in the province to help address the growing need.
“Our population is of course getting older. Nearly 600,000 people are over the age of 65,” Kenney said.
“By the year 2046 projections are that our total population will grow by about a third… While our senior’s population will double to about 1.2 million.”
The announcement comes as the COVID-19 pandemic continues across the province, which Kenney noted has consistently posed a risk to vulnerable citizens across Alberta.
Kenney said the additional continuing-care spaces will be developed with safety for resident’s top of mind.
“All spaces created will make sure to protect the most vulnerable in a pandemic,” Kenney said.
Health Minister Tyler Shandro added these new spaces will also help reduce wait times for seniors across the province.
“Too many Albertans are waiting in acute care or in the community for continuing care spaces to become available to them,” Shandro said.
“As we age, maintaining a sense of community becomes increasingly important.”
Alberta is currently home to 27,518 continuing-care spaces. Of those, 103 are operated by AHS, 126 are privately operated and 124 are run by non-profit facilities.
In response to Tuesday’s announcement, the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees said using taxpayer dollars to fund this new initiative for both the public and private expansion of these spaces is a “bad investment.”
“Albertans need more continuing care beds,” vice president Mike Dempsey said in a news release. “But Albertans don’t want their tax dollars handed out to private providers who are more focused on making profits than delivering quality care.”
The pandemic has also prompted the government to implement changes for seniors and long-term care, including the announcement of strict visitation rules at continuing-care facilities in April.
Those restrictions included banning almost all visitors from the facilities, with the exception of a dying resident or a visitor essential for delivering care.
However, in mid-July, Alberta’s chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw announced the restrictions at these facilities would be loosened — allowing families to reconnect with their loved ones amid the pandemic.
Some visitor restrictions are still in place at facilities that are experiencing COVID-19 outbreaks.
In May, the province also announced $170 million in funding for Alberta’s vulnerable populations.
Officials said the funding will go towards enhancing staffing, providing more cleaning supplies and addressing lost accommodation revenue at long-term care facilities, designated supportive living facilities and seniors lodges across Alberta as the province looks to slowly relaunch the economy.
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