Fairvern Nursing Home board of director Bill Wright was before District council at its August 9 meeting asking the upper-tier municipality to provide bridge funding to the not-for-profit home to fix its heating system in order to provide heat to residents and staff before the colder weather hits.
The cost to fix and replace parts of the boiler is about $600,000, plus the cost of removing the old equipment, said Wright. “The Ministry does not provide us as a not-for-profit the funds to build up capital reserves for such big-ticket items as this and those that may arise over the next couple of years as the new Fairvern is being developed.”
He said the hospital has generously provided the building and property for the home but said the lease states that maintenance costs are up to the home to look after. He did say the hospital is working with Fairvern see if there might be funding the home can access.
Wright also noted that an application will be made to the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care for support “sometimes they have funds set aside for emergencies such as this.”
Wright said the timing is important in order to secure equipment and install it in time for the colder weather, and in case of delays associated with COVID.
Huntsville Councillor Tim Withey said he was in support of providing the funding and said he hoped other funding would come in in order to eliminate the cost to the District, “but certainly time is a factor.”
Bracebridge Councillor Rick Maloney questioned whether Fairvern had any funds in reserves that they could contribute and questioned whether the Ministry of Health had yet provided any feedback.
Wright said the board was just made aware of the issues with the boiler this past week and they hadn’t had an opportunity to discuss the issue with the Ministry but would be doing so immediately. He said Tarek Moharram, Fairvern’s administrator on secondment from the District, has been checking all of Fairvern’s accounts “and we will contribute all that we feasibly can.”
He said the home does not have specific capital reserves for “major maintenance undertakings such as this, and so we’re looking at other accounts that we do have to cobble together what funds that we can, and those will be contributed.”
Muskoka Lakes Councillor Frank Jaglowitz asked why the request was being brought before council with such short notice.
Wright explained that the home has had a number of executive directors, and an interim director, over the last couple of years “and fortunately we have somebody from the District now who has recently hired somebody with the technical ability to review and look at these systems and so these issues were just brought to light extremely recently to the board of directors, otherwise I’m not an advocate of emergency and urgency requests. We like to be able to manage these things on our own, and if we could I wouldn’t be here asking today,” said Wright whose father is a resident at Fairvern.
Maloney asked how the organization would’ve handled the situation had the District or other opportunities not been available.
Wright, who indicated that he had only been on the board for a year, said “what I believe is sort of the history is that there just hasn’t been funds available for such programs, period. We get enough money from the Ministry to operate the home and so with the building aging out, this is part of the reason why the Ministry has said that our license would no longer, as it is in the location it is, will no longer be licensed by 2025.” He added that the Ministry has recognized that it’s an older home and not in a physically sustainable state over the long-term. Wright noted that since he’s joined the board he can sincerely say that every penny received from the Ministry has gone to care for the residents.
Wright also said that with the management of the board being taken over by the District in the future, preventative maintenance initiatives will be developed, rather than relying on the home’s history of responding to demand-maintenance.
He also noted that last year due to COVID, the home was required to reduce the number of residents it took in from 72 to 56 because there could only be two residents per room rather than the typical four. He said that had a further financial impact as residents supplement the home’s income, which also made it impossible to put money aside for maintenance.
Withey, who has been a Fairvern board member in the past, said when there were maintenance issues “literally it’s been robbing Peter to pay Paul, moving money around, begging everywhere and a lot of duct tape… the building is really tired and there’s a lot that happens there that, you know, should be foreseen more. There has been some issues, as Mr. Wright explained, with changes of executive directors and certain capacities there, so it’s not a great story… you know the sooner we can get through all the red tape of the Ministry and get these shovels in the ground and get moving, the better for all, and especially the residents because, you know, ultimately it’s about them and what they’re being forced to live in… it’s never been easy over the years for that board.”
Councillor Steve Clement questioned whether something like the boiler isn’t the responsibility of the hospital.
Wright noted that the hospital was leasing the property to Fairvern for just a dollar a year and hasn’t been generating any income from the home. “That property is worth a lot of money and the hospital has never pushed us to force us out,” said Wright, adding “they’re not shirking anything, I can assure you.”
Bracebridge Councillor Don Smith, who referred to the problem the organization is facing as a very severe situation with substantial costs, asked Wright where Fairvern would have turned if the District was not an option. Wright explained that the home would’ve had to seek an emergency loan from a financial institution at whatever cost, “but the challenge would still be that the bank would be looking for some security for that loan and that is another option that can be explored but then… the bank would be seeking some kind of a backer to support that loan. That would be the only short-term kind of immediate bridge and again my understanding from the situation as it has been described to me is that in order to hit the heating season, equipment needs to be ordered now.”
Jaglowitz questioned why the home wasn’t in better financial shape, especially if it was not paying rent. Wright explained that the fact that Fairvern is not paying to lease the building is reflected in the funding it gets from the province. “We only get funded to break even at the end of each year as a not-for-profit.”
Huntsville Mayor Karin Terziano said Fairvern, unlike The Pines in Bracebridge, is a not-for-profit nursing home. “As Mr. Wright said they do not have the funds to put away money for capital because their funding is strictly resident payments and government subsidy to look after the residents. I think it’s a bit unfair to maybe point any fingers at the board for finding themselves in this position when they were never… the type of home to save for capital expenditures. I think that’s one of the reasons the province likes District-run homes more than non-profit homes,” she said, adding that the new 160-bed home that will be built is a more financially feasible home to run.
She told her fellow councillors that the idea is to provide the home with bridge funding with the ultimate goal being to go after the province for those funds.
District Chair John Klinck said the funding model the province has designed for not-for-profit nursing homes leaves a lot to be desired.
Bracebidge Councillor Allen Edwards said the heating season starts September 15 and said the timing is crucial and he’d be supporting the bridge funding.
Maloney said he’s gobsmacked that the province would take such a funding approach when it comes to caring for and funding vulnerable seniors. “I’ve seen better financial models and funding models with local theatre companies and we’re dealing with senior citizens here,” he said, adding if there’s ever a model that needs to be fixed “this long-term care model absolutely needs to be addressed…”
Lake of Bays Mayor Terry Glover, who sits on the District’s health committee, said the situation is ridiculous, with the community constantly begging for healthcare dollars for everything.
Jaglowitz insisted the District should make it clear that the funds are only a loan and put the onus on the province to repay it.
In the end, District approved a loan to Fairvern, up to $900,000, and asked staff to work with the home to get the funds back from the province so as not to impact Muskoka taxpayers.
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Fairvern has acted successfully over the past year and a half with its efforts on the COVID situation to prove to the people of Huntsville that they are worth supporting and helping them out in this emergency.
Would it be possible to have an ongoing lottery to assist in fundraising? We support other patient care sites and I would definitely buy tickets to support their costs reduction, and I know others who also would.
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