GORE BAY—Thanks to the support of the local community, the Manitoulin Lodge Nursing Home in Gore Bay has won a contest relating to a provincial advocacy letter writing campaign. Local residents had been requested to join the Lodge in calling for immediate investments by the province to, among other things, add more beds and hire more front line staff in Ontario long-term care homes.
“We want to give a big thank you to everyone who participated in any way in our letter writing campaign to the ministry,” stated Gloria Hall, activities coordinator of the Lodge, late last week. “This is the third year in a row at least that we have won this contest in the category of nursing homes with between 1 and 79 beds.”
“We had 1,605 letters sent in through the campaign to take first place in our bed category division,” said Ms. Hall. “Last year we had a total of 779 letters sent in, so a big thank you to everyone for participating in any way to the Ontario Long Term Care Association (OLTCA) Better Seniors Care campaign letter writing campaign.”
As Ms. Hall had explained previously, the Manitoulin Lodge had taken part in the Better Seniors Care campaign to remind the government of what the key priorities and needs are in terms of long term care, and to keep these issues front and centre in the government’s minds. There were four causes that the campaign brought forward: the need for more long term care beds; the need for more front line staff to provide care; the need for more homes to be renovated or rebuilt (which includes the need for more funding resources to be provided by the province); and the need for more and better behavioural and dementia supports in every home.”
“We Need Your Help” Better Seniors Care is a letter that Manitoulin Lodge had released that it encouraged everyone to fill out, in person or on line. It reads, “it is that time of year to remind our government of concerns facing long term care. If you have access to the internet please go to BetterSeniorsCare.ca and click on “take action” and follow the directions. Make sure to fill out the facility name, “Manitoulin Lodge.” We are in a contest and the homes with the most letters win monetary prizes.”
For taking first place the Manitoulin Lodge Nursing Home has won a cash prize of $700. “Our Lodge Residents Council will decide what the funds will be donated toward,” added Ms. Hall.
