Fraser Health announced Monday 20 new publicly-funded residential care beds for seniors are coming to Chilliwack.
The local beds are among 403 new across the region, and brings the total number in the area to 479.
The 20 new beds will be located at Cascade Lodge and Valleyhaven, according to Fraser Health. All of the beds will be in private rooms that open out to common living and dining spaces.
The rooms are clustered into “neighbourhoods” to facilitate community-building with other residents, family members and staff.
“Seniors are a priority for our government,” Health Minister Adrian Dix said in a press release. “They deserve to live lives with dignity and respect. These new beds provide seniors in Chilliwack with increased access to residential care and support our commitment to ensure residents can benefit from enough direct care hours.”
“As our population grows and ages, we want to ensure we have the capacity to care for people when they need it the most,” said Fraser Health president and CEO Michael Marchbank. “While we want seniors to live at home as long as they can, we are committed to providing safe, supportive and caring environments to seniors when living at home is no longer an option.”
In the last two years, in addition to these new beds, Fraser Health says it has opened a total of 403 new residential care beds across the region with more than 8,000 people calling residential care their home.
Still, seniors continue to be plagued by a lack of affordable housing and residential care, according to Seniors Advocate Isobel Mackenzie in her year-end report nine months ago.
READ: Seniors waiting longer for residential care in B.C.: watchdog
And Mackenzie reported just last week that while most health and safety standards are being met in most care homes, bathing and meal times are issues for residents.
READ: Bathing, meal times need work, residential care survey says
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