Additional support is on the way for a Hamilton nursing home where 19 residents have now died of COVID-19.
Ontario’s ministry of long-term care has approved a voluntary management contract which allows Hamilton Health Sciences to provide enhanced support to Grace Villa.
The ministry says the goal of the agreement is to stabilize and return the home to normal operations, by addressing the current spread of COVID-19.
“Protecting our long-term care residents is our top priority,” said Minister of Long-Term Care Dr. Merrilee Fullerton.
Fullerton adds, “I thank the dedicated staff at Hamilton Health Sciences and Grace Villa Nursing Home for working together” to stop the outbreak.
She says management contracts are one example of measures that the government has utilized on behalf of long-term care residents and staff.
Others include emergency funding, regulatory flexibility, staffing support, expanded testing, along with direction and guidance on outbreak management, and infection prevention and control.
The voluntary management contract will be in effect for 90 days.
Grace Villa is the site of the city’s largest, and now deadliest, COVID-19 outbreak.
Nineteen people have died at the east mountain long-term care home since an outbreak was declared on Nov. 25. The virus has spread to 177 people, including 118 residents and 59 staff.
Comments