Assessing the present, planning the future for Winnipeg’s personal care homes

Shared Health and the WHRA are assessing existing Winnipeg personal care homes to determine the next steps for care. Harrison Shin explains.

The Winnipeg Regional Health Authority is looking to find someone who will assess the present and future of their personal care homes.

On May 28, Shared Health posted a request for proposal, looking to hire consultants who will assess and analyze several aspects of the existing not-for-profit personal care homes they operate in the city.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Shared Health said the assessment is in multiple parts – functional, technical and capacity.

The functional assessment will inspect the current clinical and support functions in the facility and how they support the current and future delivery of resident care, and the potential for site growth to accommodate more residents.

The technical one will assess the building and building’s systems.

“(It) will inform the ongoing capital investments required to sustain the facilities over the upcoming years,” the spokesperson said. “The assessment will also examine opportunities to improve the resident experience through potential facility reconfiguration.”

After, the consultants will examine the entire bed capacity of personal care homes in Winnipeg and the potential for growth or changes to ensure that the city has the capacity to meet the needs over the next 30 years, the spokesperson added.

What are Winnipeggers saying about personal care homes?

Dorothy Burr frequently visits Deer Lodge Centre to see her husband – who has been living at the facility since February 2018.

“This is not the first facility my husband has been in, but this is the best that he’s been in,” she told CTV News. “The staff that are here are so incredible.”

There are some things that could be improved – such as, she said, the number of health-care aides.

“They definitely need more staff. They’re just overworked and I see it because I’m here so often. I see how tired they are, how cheerful they try to stay.”

Eddie Calisto-Tavares, a community advocate for seniors following her father’s death at a personal care home in 2021, said while she understands the consultation is part of the process – the room for improvement is already known.

Some of her recommendations include smaller cluster homes and investment in training and recruitment.

“For me, yes – consultation to a certain degree because we also have Generation X who are in their 50s now and maybe their value system or what they need may be a little different – but let’s not spend time and money where we already have a lot of lessons that we can apply,” she said.

The request for proposal is set to close at 2 p.m. on July 7, with the delivery date set for Nov. 18, 2027.