Grey County Warden Selwyn Hicks says the provincial government was ‘quite receptive’ to local concerns at the recent Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) conference.
He says, Long-term care, affordable housing, internet access and mental health & addictions were among the issues
addressed there, noting overall, the County had “very, very good reception.”
He says the County had six meetings with ministers and Hicks had four more meetings with ministers as a member of the Western Ontario Warden’s Caucus, calling those ten meetings ‘huge’ because, he says, “It goes a long way towards building relationships with ministers.”
Hicks says, “Probably the top issue I think, that keeps the staff and frankly, should be keeping elected representatives awake is the issue around long-term care,” says Hicks, noting Grey County is working towards the redevelopment of Rockwood Terrace Long-Term Care Home in Durham into a 128 bed home.
He explains, “The cost just keeps shooting up, and we’re not alone in this of course. Every place around the province has got to be upgraded to Class ‘A’ status by 2025.”
Hicks says right now the early cost estimate for the roughly $110 million redevelopment project has a variance of 20 to 30 per cent. “Even if we look at 20 per cent, you’re looking at a variance of $20 million dollars. This is big bucks,” says Hicks.
Hicks says the County also talked to the Ministry of Long-Term Care about staffing in homes, saying, “We need personal support workers, we need nurses. We just need staff and we just don’t have it. At the same time, we have very stringent guidelines that we must meet in terms of ratios: staff to residents. So it’s an issue that keeps our senior staff awake at night.”
Hicks says even last weekend, it was a struggle to meet staffing requirements in County homes. “Everyone across the province is struggling.”
He notes the provincial government’s recent announcement of planned measures to address health care issues includes the potential to move people from hospital beds to long-term care, “That’s all well and good, but it doesn’t help us at all in terms of the staffing challenge that we have, and we can anticipate that if they do that, the acuity level is going to go up as well.”
He says Grey County also discussed safety issues in parks with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, explaining the area has seen an increase in visitors, especially since the pandemic, noting, “They’re coming up in large numbers, there are parking issues. The facilities aren’t really designed for those types of numbers, so we have parking issues, we have issues with barriers and people coming awfully close to steep cliffs with soft banks, people taking risks, not having proper washroom facilities, and people are going to get hurt. We drew that to their attention and they embraced it, and invited us to sit with their staff and to look at possible solutions.” Hicks says some solutions might include the province and the County partnering in terms of staffing to help enforce rules and regulations.
Meanwhile, Hicks says, in his additional role as a member of the Western Ontario Warden’s Caucus, there were discussions with the provincial government about affordable and attainable housing in rural areas, implementation of the Wardens’ Caucus’ workforce strategy, provincial broadband and cellular infrastructure investment.
He says the Wardens’ Caucus is advocating for the provincial government to include small and medium internet service providers in its infrastructure investment plans.
Hicks says they also discussed mental health and addictions, noting, in terms of the communities the wardens represent, “Many of my colleagues are experiencing record numbers for opioid overdose and the like. No different from Grey County.”
He says Grey County has created a mental health and addictions task force which has a report that will be published in the coming months.
The provincial government recently announced $6 million in funding for 36 mental heatlh and addiction treatment beds for Grey Bruce Health Services, to add to the existing nine.
Going forward on all of these issues, Hicks says there were “lots of offers to continue to meet, especially staff to staff, “which is where the real work gets done, to be honest,” says Hicks.
Met with @PaulCalandra – Minister of Long Term Care on: Health Human Resources challenges, Infection Prevention Control and Construction Funding challenges. No firm commitments but they are willing to have further meetings. @GreyCounty @TownofHanover @NewsBayshore @OwenSoundST pic.twitter.com/AZN08dSkSf
— Selwyn “Buck” Hicks (@SelwynJHicks) August 15, 2022