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The Citizen, 1988-07-13, Page 13THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, JULY 13, 1988. PAGE 5. County approves new Huronview proposal Since it will cost almost as much to renovate the present Huronview building to meet today’s standards for privacy and safety, the “Seniors Care Facility Committee” has proposed to build a new 160-bed facility at the present site plus a satellite 80-bed unit in north Huron and possibly a further 80-bed unit in the south. Cost of the Clinton building alone would be $10 million, half paid by the province. Huron County Council last week accepted the report of the Seniors Care Facility Committee which will see a new, decentra­ lized Huronview built at a cost of more than $10 million for the first phase alone. The 100-page report calls for construction of two80-bed units atthe present Huronview site as a first phase with an 80-bed unit to be added in the northern part of the county later and a possible further 80-bed unit for the south after that. Estimates from similar facilities under construction elsewhere in the province put the cost of development at $65,000 per bed. The recommendation from the committee now goes to the county’s executive committee which will have to try to find the money to put the plan into action. Lossy Fuller, Deputy-reeve of Exeter and co-chair- manof the facilities committee, said the project definitely will have tobe debentured. The acceptance of the report however, means that the three-stage proposal is on the road, she said. Bill Hanly, Huron County clerk-treasurer was more cautious, how­ ever, saying that the specifics might be subject to change with feedback from the Ministry of Community and Social Services. The study was set up in September of last year following a meeting of Huron County Council with John Sweeney, Minister of Community and Social Services after an earlier plan to renovate the present Huronview building fell through for lack of provincial funding. In a letter from Mr. Sweeney after the meeting he pointed out that the cost of renovating the old building is almost the same as building a new facility and urged the council to look at the latter possibility. Also, he noted, the renovation would have lowered the number of beds at Huronview from 318 to 297. The extensive renovations are required to bring the building up to modern standards and make it more like a home and less like an institution for residents. Bathroom facilities attached to each room are now expected in seniors’ facilities but at Huronview, resi­ dents often have to walk a considerable distance to a bathroom. The proposed new units would not only have bathrooms but would also make telephone and television outlets available to the residents at their own expense. The report recommends: “That the County of Huron construct new facilities which reflect the progress away from institutionalization of the elderly and provide for the privacy, individuality and dignity of the resident.” In keeping with this the proposal is, not only for more complete, private rooms, but also for smaller facilities. While the current Huronview has 318 beds, the replacement would have eight units of 20 multi-purpose bedsatthepresentHuronviewsite. This would serve the central area of the county including Blyth, Clinton, Goderich, Seaforth and Bayfield and surrounding townships. The Clinton facility would also contain the administrative and laundry services for the satellite homes. The study noted that the greatest need for short and long-term extended care beds is in Brussels, Winghamand Goderich. Thus once the Clinton facility was completed plans call for a further 80-bed unit to be built in the northern part of the county. A further 80-bed facility maybe built after that in the southern part of the county if the need is there. Currently the needs of the southern part of the county are met through Bluewater Rest Home in Zurich. A growing need for seniors’ accommoda­ tion is expected by the turn of the century, the study said. Huron county already has the eighth highest proportion of senior citizens in Ontario with 14.2 per cent of the population but the report of the University of Guelph’s Rural Development Outreach Project in 1981 called "The Elderly in Huron County Municipalities: anOverview” point­ ed out that by 2001 the baby-boom generation will be reaching 65 and the 1985 census shows 21,523 in the 25 to 59 age group, 38.8 per cent of the total population. The new units will be designed for more extended-care use instead of residential use. The report notes that programs such as homemaking and visiting nurses are allowing more seniors to stay in their homes until they are too frail to look after themselves even with help. As a result ‘‘virtually all residents now entering are in their 80’s, and it is notuncommon to find residents who are in their 90’s or older.” The report notes that the average age of Huronview residents in 1977 was 76 compared to 82 in 1987. The dramatic changes this has brought about in the operation of Huronview can be seen in bed occupancy statistics. With fewer people wanting simple residential care, there were on average 20 residential care beds empty last year. In the first three months of 1988 that had already jumped to 42 empty beds. For extended care beds, on the other hand, there was a mere two beds per day vacant in 1987 and in the first three months of 1988 the occupancy rate was actually 104 per cent as empty residential beds we re pressed into service to meet a shortage of seven beds per day. The committee also recommends that separate units for victims of Alzheimer’s disease be established at each of the three locations. These would have specially trained staff and a therapeutic garden. The study notes there are no appropriate facilities for Alzheimer’s victims at present within the county. Forthe convenience of residents the study proposes that the new buildings be on one floor, unlike the current two-storey Clinton building. In preparing their study the committee visited other facilities from Bluewater Rest Home in Zurich to the River Bend Complex, a new eight-storey retire­ ment lodge and extended care facility in Cambridge. They were especially impressed by Gilmore Lodge in Fort Erie and Upper Canada Lodge in Niagara-on-the-Lake where 80-bed complexes consisted of four 20-bed houses linked by corridors, focusing on a ‘‘town square” concept. Councillors worry about province's commitment Huron County councillors gave approval to the plan to build up to three new homes for the aged in Huron, at their July 7 meeting, but not before worrying out loud that their plans might be left high and dry by a lack of provincial funding. The councillors ultimately agreed with Grey township Reeve Leona Armstrong who said it would be irresponsible for this council to put off a decision on the proposal until a new council came in this fall since this council ‘‘has gone through all the growing pains” of the project. “I realize it’s a lot of money (an estimated $10 million for the first 160-beds at Clinton) but putting it off will only cost more,” she said. She got support from Hay township reeve Lionel Wilder who said that a recorded vote in 1985 was that the renovation of Huronview should go ahead and the time is now that the future of Huronview must be looked at. But many councillors worried about the province’s commitment to its 50 per cent share of the costs of the project. Exeter Reeve Bill Mickle pressed for some commitment on the part of the two Ministry of Community and Social Services officials present: Linda Girard, Program Supervisor for the London area who served on the committee and Gail Ure, manager, Com­ munity Programs. He worried that once the province had paid its share of the 160 beds at Clinton it might not give permission for more extended care beds for the north of the county and later still, 80 beds for the south. Dave Johnston, reeve of Bayfield said he shared the concern of other cou ncillors that if the county goes back to the ministry for money for phase two, it may have the province say Huron has had its money which would leave the county with fewer beds than it began with. He said he’d like to see a commitment to the whole project from the province. Lossy Fuller, co-chairman of the Seniors Care Facility Committee, said it is a lot of money for the county to look at all at once to fund all three stages. Mr. Girard said the ministry will look at phase one and two as a total plan but admitted that in two or three years circumstances could change such as if rumours of a private home operation being built in the north come true. The comments of the Ministry people didn’t sooth the councillors’ worries. In the afternoon session before the council finally approved the plan, Reeve Mickle came back to the subject of provincial commitment. ‘‘The thing that bothers me,” he said, ‘‘is I am not comfortable with what the Ministry has told us today. If you analyze what they said here today, their biggest concern is the fire situation (improving the fire safety of the Huronview home, now not up to standard because it is on two floors). They haven’t committed to the northern facility and they totally ignored the south.” He said he was not sure the county should be making a commitment to the 160 bed unit at Clinton without the province’s commitment to fund the north and south projects. Deputy-reeveFulleragreedthatifthe county had the money to spend the logical thing to do would be to build three 80-bed facilities (two at Clinton, one in the north) immediately. Russel Kernighan, reeve of Colborne said the main concern seemed to be commitment and he wondered if the Ministry too was waiting for commitment on the part of the county. Reeve Johnston wrapped up the debate saying that if the council accepted and approved the committee’s report it indicated the council approved all three phases of the proposal. ‘‘I sincerely hope we approve this report.” The report was approved by an easy margin. What's a billion? BY RAYMOND CANON Being the head of the State Family Planning Commission in China is not an easy job by any stretch of the imagination. Ask the last two; they have both been fired. You can understand something of the pressure under which they were working when you realize that your job is to turn the population growth around in China and head it downwards. Although the number of people living in that country, which is slightly smaller than Canada, is reported to be in the neighbourhood of one billion, or 40 times as dense as that of our country, the first indication we had of precisely how many people the Chinese government thought were there came in 1987 when it was reported that the population for that year had increased by 15 million, making the total some 1.07 billion. What the Chinese government wanted was for the population to level off by the turn of the century and it was expected that this would be at about the 1.2 billion mark. At current rates it was obvious that such a goal was impossible and so out went the second head of the above mentioned Commission al­ though, in all honesty, he is not totally to blame. How do you tell one billion people when to have babies? In China no one is supposed to have a second child without permission butlthinkl can give you some idea of how well this rule was obeyed when I report that in 1985 the average woman had 2.1 Continued on page 22