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Mayor floats new ideas for sustainable long-term care

Since posting his ideas on social media, Lehman says he’s received four calls from operators interested in implementing some of them

What would your ideal senior living situation look like?

Mayor Jeff Lehman posted some of his ideas on the issue this week to his Twitter and Facebook pages outlining how long-term care models could be changed to improve both employee and resident quality of life.

Multiple local long-term care operators have now reached out to Barrie’s mayor to discuss incorporating some of the innovative ideas into their approach to care.

“I’d sort of been thinking about this issue for a while,” Lehman said in an interview with BarrieToday.

Since COVID-19, Lehman said these issues have been magnified in his mind in light of the current model for long-term care facilities struggling to keep the virus at bay.

“It’s by no fault of their own. They’re working incredibly hard to contain it,” he said. “There’s so many people out there working right in the middle of such difficult circumstances right now. I think the people who are doing this job are heroes. This job is difficult when times are good, and times are not good right now.”

Lehman’s suggestions follow a more European model, including building networks of smaller homes in neighbourhoods with four to six beds per home. He posed questions about having local restaurants supply catering services, while adding communal laundry and medical services, and locating these homes near parks or schools giving residents some opportunity for interaction.

“Residents could enjoy a residential setting and the virus risk is hugely reduced,” he wrote. “Despite huge-hearted workers, institutional living isn’t most people's top choice. Could we reduce the virus risk and build happier and safer places to live and work?”

In Barrie, an age-friendly community plan was submitted to council in a final report in 2016.

“We went out and asked 1,000 seniors in Barrie what the priorities should be to help them age in the way they want to in the community. The No. 1 issue was housing,” said Lehman. “Some said that institutional living wasn’t their goal.”

Lehman says there have been some new models proposed for land in the south end of Barrie, as well as projects like Solterra Co-Housing, which builds homes intended for multiple senior residents which include personal space as well as some common areas.

“I thought, here’s a model that may help address some of these problems, and seem to be the model people have been asking for,” he said.

Since posting on Tuesday, Lehman said he has received four calls from different local operators interested in incorporating the model into their facilities.

“Some have said they’re actually experimenting with this,” he said. “So, that was really positive.”

Lehman is quick to clarify that his suggestions are in no way a criticism of current operators, but it’s the overall model he questions.

“My concern is, we don’t really have a ‘system.’ We have a government that subsidizes beds but beyond that, there are a lot of areas where we need to improve,” he said.

In Ontario, Lehman says there are a variety of different kinds of long-term care homes which can make it difficult to make system-wide change.

“We have faith-based homes, charitable homes, subsidized homes, private-sector operators... it’s such a mix of different operators. There’s consistent health regulations, but there isn’t really consistency in the models,” he said.

While long-term care is currently the responsibility of the provincial government, Lehman says there are some things that can be done at the municipal level to help the long-term care sector.

Firstly, the City of Barrie pays about $1 million annually toward the operation of the County of Simcoe’s four long-term care homes: Georgian Manor in Penetanguishene, Simcoe Manor in Beeton, Trillium Manor in Orillia and Sunset Manor in Collingwood. Lehman says Georgian is already implementing some of the ideas mentioned in his posting.

Secondly, the municipality does have some control over planning policy regarding the homes within city limits.

“Because there’s been some interest in this, I started to talk about this ... at city hall. Interestingly enough, Jeff Lehman can talk about this on social media, but that doesn’t mean it’s allowed under our zoning,” he said with a laugh.

“Previously, there have been reasons why we have not allowed long-term care within some of our residential zones. A home might look just like a residential home on the outside, but on the inside it’s quite different. You’d need different ventilation systems and medical infrastructure, and for the employees you’d need... room to park cars for all the people who would work there,” he said.

“But, we can look at our own planning policies and look at, if somebody wanted to do this in one of our neighbourhoods – and that would be up to a long-term care provider – how could we adapt our zoning to allow for that?” he added.

For more information on Barrie’s age-friendly community plan, click here.