Centre beds to be cut in half

Care centre beds to be cut in half
By Dan Hilborn, Burnaby Now assistant editor
Published April 9, 2003

The number of residents living at the Canada Way Care Centre in Burnaby will be cut in half after a revised funding agreement was reached between the new owners of facility and the Fraser Health Authority last week.
Under the plan, which was announced April 11, the centre will only receive funding for 55 beds, down from the current 106 beds. However, a press release from the FHA states that only 15 of the current residents of the facility will have to be relocated because of the changes.
In addition, the new owners will receive substantially more money per bed under a plan that will upgrade the level of care at the centre to the new 'complex care' designation spelled out in the 'Guiding principles for residential care' document approved by the health region in December.
When the closure of the 51 CWCC beds is combined with the impending closure of 97 beds at Central Park Manor as announced in February, the region is nearing its target of shutting down a minimum of 210 continuing care beds in the Fraser North subregion this year.
Colleen Hart, director of business partnerships for residential and home support with the FHA, said the reduction of beds is part of the region's new emphasis on home care and home support services, that will encourage more elderly people to stay at home for longer periods of time before entering a care centre.
Money saved from the closure of the 51 beds will be rechannelled towards new initiatives in the assisted living and home support fields, Hart said. She also noted that Burnaby is currently the only community in the FHA with assisted living beds, which are located at Dania Home and Nikkei Place.
Meanwhile, Burnaby will still have 1,500 publicly funded residential care beds - the most of any single community in the health region - and Canada Way Care Centre residents who have to move should be able to find accommodation within the city.
"Residents should not have to move outside of Burnaby unless that is their choice," said a question and answer sheet provided to care centre residents and families.
Hart also noted that the FHA no longer keeps waiting lists for people wanting into long term care facilities, and instead has implemented a new prioritization protocol that assesses seniors on their individual needs for care. That means that some seniors who might have moved into a continuing care facility in the past are now being encouraged to stay at home or move into a less expensive assisted living unit.
When asked if the bed closures will result in longer waits for seniors wanting into care facilities, Hart said: "I can't say it takes longer because I don't have a list that says it does. I'm not even sure if there is a list."
According to an FHA press release, the new owners of the centre are Dr. Kabir Jivraj and Dr. Hasmukh Patel of AgeCorp Ltd. Jivraj retired last October from the post of senior vice-president and chief medical health officer for the Calgary Regional Health Authority in Alberta.
A press release on the Calgary regional health authority Web site states that Jivraj, president of the Aga Khan Council for the Prairies, has a long resume of community service which includes membership on the Council of Champions for the Calgary Children's Initiative and as a member of a subsidiary board of the Canadian Medical Association responsible for physician's professional and support services.