MPP for St. Catharines, Jim Bradley announced a $500,000 grant to allow Hotel Dieu Shaver Health and Rehabilitation Centre to plan for an expansion of rehabilitation beds in Niagara.“The approval by the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care for a planning grant of $0.5 million for the Hotel Dieu Shaver Health and Rehabilitation Centre for its proposed redevelopment project begins a process that will be of immense benefit to patients needing restorative, complex, continuing care and rehabilitation,” says Jim Bradley, MPP for St. Catharines. “The Hotel Dieu Shaver administration, staff and Board of Directors are to be congratulated on an excellent proposal to meet the needs of patients in Niagara.”
In 2007, Hotel Dieu Shaver Health and Rehabilitation Centre submitted a proposed business case for an expansion of the full spectrum Inpatient Rehabilitation Program to the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care and the Hamilton Niagara Haldimand Brant Local Health Integration Network.
“This is an exciting day for Hotel Dieu Shaver,” says Jane Rufrano, CEO of Hotel Dieu Shaver Health and Rehabilitation Centre. “Over the past several years, Hotel Dieu Shaver and Niagara Health have worked collaboratively to optimize patient flow, build a system with seamless transitions, while focusing internally to strengthen our own respective expertise – acute versus rehabilitation.”
The grant is designed to fund the initial planning phase of a capital expansion. Planning grants help Ontario’s health care system respond to the needs of a growing and changing population by enabling more sustainable, informed fiscal planning for communities. Planning grants provide resources for hospitals to work with the Local Health Integration Network and the province to ensure a project is of appropriate scope and scale.
“Today’s announcement supports the crucial role that a health and rehabilitation centre plays in our health system. Hotel Dieu Shaver Health and Rehabilitation Centre is an amazing, specialty facility that excels in providing rehabilitation, complex care and geriatric services to patients from the Niagara Region and we are excited knowing that it now has the opportunity to explore expansion in order to meet the growing health care needs of communities across the region” says Donna Cripps – Hamilton Niagara Haldimand Brant Local Health Integration Network (HNHB LHIN) Chief Executive Officer.
Hotel Dieu Shaver’s proposal was initiated by Senior Staff and the Board of Trustees of the hospital noting several challenges that support a capital expansion.
“The expansion of rehab beds at Hotel Dieu Shaver is another step forward in improving patient flow and access to enable residents of Niagara to have the right care at the right time,” continues Rufrano. “We have safety risks resulting from limited space and unacceptable patient bathroom facilities. An expansion would allow de-conditioned patients at acute and tertiary hospitals to be discharged, which would provide bed pressure relief within the acute system. Re-admission to acute hospitals would be reduced and avoided as patients discharged after having rehabilitation, would be less likely to have challenges when returning home. We can’t thank Jim enough for his support since the very beginning. We can finally say – let the planning begin!”
The mission of the Hotel Dieu Shaver Health and Rehabilitation Foundation is to raise funds and respect donor's gifts to enhance health care at the Hotel Dieu Shaver Health and Rehabilitation Centre. Hotel Dieu Shaver Health and Rehabilitation Centre provides comfort, care and hope to thousands of Niagara residents through rehabilitation, complex care and geriatric programs.
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Contact:
Mary Jane Johnson Brody Longmuir
Hotel Dieu Shaver Office of Jim Bradley, MPP St.Catharines
905-685-1381 x 84826 905-935-0018
maryjane.johnson@hoteldieushaver.org jbradley.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org