The recommendations of the March 23 long term care redevelopment report have been deferred to a future meeting on May 11, 2017. Delaying the vote will give County Council an opportunity to engage with the public and to digest the information presented.

"This is a very important topic with long-lasting impacts. The decision we make now needs to meet the growing needs of our residents today, and into the future," said Grey County Warden Alan Barfoot. "There was a lot of great information presented in the report. Now County Council and Grey County residents can take some time to digest what we've heard and really think about what long term care in the county should look like in the future."

The report presented three recommendations that will keep all public long term long term care beds in Grey County, attract even more services for seniors and enhance efficiencies in care and service delivery:

Amalgamate beds from Grey Gables and Rockwood Terrace into a single new long term care home in Durham.
Repurpose Grey Gables to an assisted living/retirement home once the new long term care home is ready for occupancy.
Contract a management company to provide oversight of the day-to-day operations of long term care and provide input into the construction of a new home.
Rockwood Terrace, the County's 100 bed long term care home in Durham, will not meet ministry standards by 2025 and needs to be redeveloped. Rockwood's situation created an opportunity for Grey County to review and understand how Grey County's long term care services can be better organized to meet the current and future demand in our region.

There was a lot of good debate at the meeting on March 23 as councillors asked questions and voiced their opinions and concerns.

It's estimated more than 130 members of the public attended the Committee of the Whole meeting on March 23. Representatives were present from both the Durham and Markdale communities.

"This is an emotional topic and we expected to see a lot of faces in the gallery," said Barfoot. "We were prepared to accommodate everyone and we are taking more steps to ensure everyone has an opportunity to understand these recommendations and to share their feedback."

Grey County is hosting two public meetings next week. The first meeting is March 30 at the Durham Community Centre from 7 to 9 p.m. The second meeting is at the Centre Grey Recreation Complex in Markdale on March 31 from 7 to 9 p.m.

A recording of the March 23 County Council and Committee of the Whole meetings will be made available on www.Grey.ca within a few days.

source: media release, Grey County