New privately operated long-term care home opens amid calls for non-profit care

New long-term care home opens in London A grand opening was held at the new Elmwood Place as calls for more funding for non-profit homes gets louder. CTV's Bryan Bicknell explains.

London, Ont. — The grand opening of the city’s newest for-profit long-term care home comes amid continued calls for the province to put more funding into non-profit long-term care homes.

The ribbon was cut Friday and the doors were opened to Revera’s new Elmwood Place on Morgan Avenue in southwest London.

Although the building is brand new, it’s considered a redevelopment, as it replaces the former Elmood Place home on Elmwood Place in Old South London.

The new facility adds 50 beds, for a total of 128.

“This site contains many, many of the new design standards that are going to make life for residents and families better,” said Revera President and CEO Tom Wellner.

The ground-breaking for the new Elmwood Place was held in January 2020, two months before the COVID-19 pandemic turned Ontario’s long-term care sector upside down, resulting in the deaths of more than 4,000 long-term care residents across Ontario.

The province has opened applications to build 10,000 new long-term care beds. Minister of Long-Term Care, Rod Phillips, has revealed that more than 60 per cent of the contracts to build new homes are being awarded to for-profit operators.

Lisa Levin, the head of AdvantAge Ontario, a group representing not-for-profit and municipal long-term care homes, told CTV’s Your Morning on Friday, “that has to change.”

“The outcome is better in homes, more care is provided, and more importantly that’s where Ontarians want to be. Two out of three people on the waitlist for long-term care are waiting for not-for-profit or municipal homes. So we want the government to make sure that going forward, all new beds in the system are allocated to not-for-profit or municipal homes,” said Levin.

Elgin Middlesex London PC MPP Jeff Yurek, on hand for the Elmwood Place grand opening, said it will take all hands on deck to meet the province’s needs in long-term care.

“We need to be all in this together. Profit, non-profit, to build the spaces that are needed. The waitlists are unmanageable right now. I can tell you, it’s one of the largest calls into my office and we need to get these residences built with proper standards in place."

On Thursday, the government tabled new legislation to govern long-term care. Yurek said it’s part of a $4.9-billion plan to provide four hours of care per resident, per day.