Barrie-Innisfil MPP Andrea Khanjin and Barrie-Innisfil MP John Brassard announced a $3,161,083 one-time combined federal-provincial funding for the Bob Rumball Home for the Deaf Tuesday afternoon.
The funding, which was received in April, will be used to improve and make upgrades to the facilities as part of Ontario’s $100 million investment to install heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems, and make retrofits or repairs to fire sprinkler systems in 91 (TBC) long-term care homes across the province.
Derek Rumball, chairman of the board for the Barrie home, told BarrieToday the facility was overdue for a new HVAC system and it is greatly appreciated.
“Essentially, this is going to upgrade our unit that is on the roof and has been there for over 15 years now,” said Rumball. “It will provide us state-of-the-art air from outside and what a blessing it is to have that right now. The world we now live in shows us that better equipment is so needed.”
The home, located at 1 Royal Parkside Dr., has not had any outbreaks during the pandemic and Rumball said that taking the situation seriously right away helped with that.
“If we go back to February of last year when COVID was all talk and there were just some international concerns about it, we met here and talked about what to do. We decided to take no risks and to just shut the doors,” said Rumball. “We started initiating a lot of the screening protocols in effect now, about six weeks ahead of everyone else. I’m proud of how we handled it.”
The funding is part of a combined federal-provincial investment of up to $1.05 billion to build or renovate health and safety related projects in long-term care, education and municipalities through the COVID-19 Resilience Infrastructure Stream of the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program.
In addition to helping communities build the necessary infrastructure to keep Ontario’s long-term care residents, families and staff comfortable and safe, this investment will create hundreds of local construction jobs, and support local businesses and suppliers.
Khanjin said that the investment will help those who are “most vulnerable to live in the comfortable and safe living spaces they deserve.”
Brassard was happy to see the home’s residents receive the joint investment to allow them to have a better quality of life.
“With this funding, the seniors who helped build this country to what it is today, deserve the type of respect and honour we can give them to live in comfort and dignity,” said Brassard.
The Bob Rumball Home for the Deaf is the only long-term care facility in Canada which is specifically designed to meet the needs of deaf seniors. Emphasis is placed on communication and eliminating the isolation many deaf seniors experience, while also offering services to hearing seniors.
