‘Topping Off’ ceremony held for new Long Term Care home in Ajax

Ajax | Durham | Ontario | Health | Latest News |

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Published August 27, 2021 at 2:31 pm

Local dignitaries were on hand at the site of Durham Region’s newest long-term care home in Ajax for a ‘topping off’ ceremony, signifying the highest point of the building had been reached.

Provincial Long Term Care Minister and Ajax MPP Rod Phillips, Ontario Finance Minister and Pickering-Uxbridge MPP Peter Bethlenfalvy and Whitby MPP Lorne Coe joined leaders from Lakeridge Health, Infrastructure Ontario and PCL Construction to celebrate the accelerated topping off of the new long-term care home being built at Lakeridge Health’s Ajax Pickering Hospital.

“Today’s topping off moves this home one step closer to completion and Ontario one step closer to delivering 30,000 much-needed long-term care beds over 10 years,” said Phillips.

Located on the hospital grounds, the long-term care home is expected to be ready to open in the spring, with 320 new beds for Durham seniors to call home.

The residential facility will also be part of a campus of care to ensure residents have close access to the specialized and complex care they need, and better integrate the long-term care home into the broader health care system.

The pilot program leverages hospital-owned land and accelerated construction techniques to expedite construction in large urban areas where land cost and availability are significant challenges for prospective developers.

PCL Constructors Canada spokesman Todd Craigen said reaching the topping off mark just eight months after construction began was “an exceptional achievement,” and Lakeridge Health CEO Cynthia Davis called it an “exciting milestone.”

The new Ajax long term care home is part of the provincial government’s $2.6 billion, ten-year investment in long-term care which is expected to deliver 30,000 beds to Ontario seniors “where they are most needed.”

There are approximately 40,000 people on the waitlist for long-term care beds in Ontario and the average wait time is 147 days for residents currently living in community settings.

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