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Memorial site to be used for ALC patients

The Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care announced Sept. 18 that it will provide funding to temporarily solve Sudbury's alternate level of care (ALC) patient crisis. The patients will be housed at Sudbury Regional Hospital's Memorial site.
Memorial Site
The Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care announced Sept. 18 that it will provide funding to temporarily solve Sudbury's alternate level of care (ALC) patient crisis. File photo.


The Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care announced Sept. 18 that it will provide funding to temporarily solve Sudbury's alternate level of care (ALC) patient crisis.

The patients will be housed at Sudbury Regional Hospital's Memorial site. The Memorial site was slated to be closed next year once construction on the one-site hospital is complete.

ALC patients are those who no longer require acute care, but continue to occupy acute-care beds because there are no spaces for them in nursing homes other community facilities.

Funding has been provided to care for ALC patients at the Memorial Site for a period of up to 12 months.

A 128-bed long-term care home is slated to open in Chelmsford in 2010, along with 64 beds at Pioneer Manor.

The opening of these beds “will continue to be viewed as critical components to the solution's final details around the use of the Memorial Site,” according to a press release put out by the North East Local Health Integration Network (NE LHIN).

There are currently about 97 ALC patients in acute-care beds at the hospital, along with 24 patients in transitional care beds.

The Memorial site option was developed by the ALC Community Steering Group, and presented to the NE LHIN in January 2009 as part of a larger report on the subject.

Sudbury MPP and Liberal cabinet minister Rick Bartolucci told Northern Life the provincial government has been “very, very proactive” in resolving the ALC crisis in Sudbury.

He said the bed shortage has been caused by factors out of the government's control, such as delays in the construction of a 64-bed unit at Pioneer Manor because of an insurance issue. The unit had to be re-built after a fire.

“I'm very, very proud of my government's interaction and dedication to finding the solution, as manifested by the fact that they said 'Bring the partners together, find a local solution, and we will give that local solution serious consideration'.”

Bartolucci said he's always stressed that the one-site hospital in Sudbury would be able to care solely for acute-care patients, and the Memorial site announcement “just reinforces that fact.”

Sudbury Regional Hospital board chair Carol Hartman said the announcement means the hospital can now “successfully bring together all acute care hospital services on a single site.”

“This is good news for our hospital patients and ALC patients who will receive the care they need from our community,” she said, in the press release.

“On behalf of the staff and physicians at the HRSRH who want only to provide the best care possible for our patients, we applaud the NE LHIN for supporting the Memorial Site option.”

North East LHIN interim chair Peter Vaudry said the announcement is “good news for the health and wellness of the people of Sudbury and all across North East Ontario who are served by our regional hospital.”

“Patient care has driven our work to date and it will continue to be the main area of focus as we finalize the details of this strategy. Dr. Zalan and the ALC Community Steering Group, Sudbury Regional Board Chair Carol Hartman and her Board directors, and all partners involved in this complex issue are to be commended for their work,” he said.

Check back to NorthernLife.ca for more on this story as it becomes available.



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