Grey County Council is supporting Hanover’s push to keep 41 long term care beds from leaving that town.
Hanover Mayor Kathi Maskell received unanimous support from her fellow county councillors on Tuesday as she brought forward a plea from the town that’s already been endorsed by her own council.
It’s a resolution that supports the sale of long-term care beds at the Hanover Care Centre — but only if they’re sold to someone who will operate them in that facility.
These beds are allotted to communities by the provincial Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care — and it turns out that, upon ministry approval — they can be bought and sold on the marketplace as though they were commodities.
There is a proposal to move the beds from the Hanover Care Centre to the Elgin Abbey Nursing Home in Chesley.
Maskell argues they need the beds because their population is aging and there are only 111 such spaces to begin with.
Maskell adds Hanover is already very close to being underserviced for long term care beds, and that situation will gradually become worse if these 41 beds leave.
A number of residents also expressed their concern about the plan at a meeting last month.
