Lac du Bonnet residents paying for hospital stays as years-long wait for new care home continues

A sign marking the future site of a new care home first promised to people in Lac du Bonnet 11 years ago is now a painful reminder of a project once again put on hold.

"How long do we have to wait?" said Marline Wruck, an 81-year-old Lac du Bonnet resident. "I don't want to see that sign anymore … unless it's going to happen."

Residents in the eastern Manitoba community and the surrounding area say they're frustrated the long-awaited 95-bed complex hasn't been built yet, since there are already people waiting in hospital for a bed to open up.

When exactly the project will start remains unclear. It was delayed this month as part of a broader review of provincial spending under the recently elected NDP government.

Wruck and her husband, Gus, 83, were reminded of just how badly the care home is needed when he recently ended up in nearby Pinawa Hospital after a fall.

"The man next to him had been there, I think, five or six months awaiting a personal care home," Marline Wruck said.

Marline and Gus Wruck are in the process of downsizing from their home in Lac du Bonnet to an apartment. They're frustrated a long-awaited personal care home in the community has not been built. (Travis Golby/CBC)

Lac du Bonnet Mayor Ken Lodge said people in need of a care home bed, and their families, are the ones paying the price for the delay.

"We have approximately 65 people that are panelled [for placement in a personal care home] right now waiting to get into a personal care home bed," Lodge said.

A spokesperson for the Interlake-Eastern Regional Health Authority, which includes Lac du Bonnet, said if someone who has been panelled is in hospital and has no other option for care, they will remain in hospital.

But once the panel process is completed, people are charged for the care they're provided, whether they're in hospital or a care home bed.

'They're paying to stay in hospitals'

That doesn't sit well with Loren Schinkel, reeve of the Rural Municipality of Lac du Bonnet, given the delays the project has faced over the years.

"It's so disrespectful," he said. There's a "frustration that's felt here by us as leaders of the community on behalf of our seniors that are languishing in hospital beds that once panelled, they have to pay for. They're paying to stay in hospitals."

The health region wouldn't confirm the number of people waiting in hospital for a care home placement. It said the number of people who require placement fluctuates significantly.

The existing 30-bed personal care home in Lac du Bonnet is supposed to be replaced by a new 95-bed complex, which has yet to be built. (Travis Golby/CBC)

Schinkel said the NDP, elected in October, ran on a platform to fix health care, and he feels the care home would benefit the system.

The new care home was first announced in 2012 by Greg Selinger's NDP government to replace an existing 30-bed personal care home.

The project was cancelled under Brian Pallister's Progressive Conservative government in 2017, only to be reannounced by the PCs under Pallister's successor, Heather Stefanson, during the lead up to the fall provincial election.

But with Stefanson's government defeated, the project's future is once again unclear.

Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara said Tuesday the NDP's review will look at the future of personal care homes across the province.

"Are the models that have existed previously models that we need to move forward with? Can we do better?" Asagwara said.

"It's not just a review that's taking a quick scan of what exists.… It's an intensive review that factors in a number of different areas and works with folks across the system to make the most informed decisions."

'It's only going to get worse'

Julie Turenne-Maynard, executive director of the Manitoba Association of Residential and Community Care Homes for the Elderly, or MARCHE, said at least 1,200 new care home beds are urgently needed in the province, which has an aging demographic.

"We want to be looking at different models of care, obviously, because a lot of the boomer generation don't want to be living in an institutional type of an environment. They much prefer a house model environment," Turenne-Maynard said.

"We need to get on this, because it's only going to get worse."

A sign marking the future site of the new Lac du Bonnet care home remains in place, but the land it is supposed to be built on has sat empty for years. (Josh Crabb/CBC)

Lac du Bonnet resident Theresa Fleming is worried about a family member who may need a space in a care home sometime in the next few years.

She said her sister-in-law has already had to move to Winnipeg to find a privately operated supportive housing unit.

"That will probably increase her ability to live a little bit more independently before a personal care home," said Fleming, a former nurse with a certificate in gerontology.

She worries about those who are unable to find a housing option that meets their immediate needs.

"If we wait too long and have people struggle at home," their health could suffer, "and they may need a personal care home a lot sooner."

The Wrucks understand that the financial pressure the province faces has put the care home on pause.

"I feel rather disappointed, of course, but the reality is there," said Gus. "Government is not flush with money."

However, they're also thinking about their futures. They hope the project proceeds after the review.

"We want to see something being dug," said Marline. "We want to see something happening."