Parkview Place closure 'very sad,' leaves former staff member shocked

WINNIPEG -

Parkview Place, a Winnipeg personal care home that was the site of one of the worst COVID-19 outbreaks, will be closing in about a years’ time.

The company running the facility, which houses hundreds of publicly funded long-term care beds, made the announcement Tuesday afternoon.

In a media statement, Revera said the 60-year-old building’s outdated design and layout no longer meets the needs of its elderly residents and it cannot be renovated.

Former staff member Daniel Hrobat went down to the building on Edmonton Street Wednesday afternoon after hearing about the closure.

“I was really shocked and speechless when I heard it,” he said. “I saw it on the news. I came out to see if it was true.”

Revera said Parkview Place will close by August 10, 2022, or when all of its residents have been placed elsewhere.

A Winnipeg Regional Health Authority spokesperson tells CTV News there are currently 160 residents living at Parkview Place and work has begun with their families to move them all elsewhere.

The WRHA spokesperson also said over the course of the next year everyone is expected to be accommodated.

Jan Legeros, executive director of the Long Term and Continuing Care Association of Manitoba says Parkview Place has a total of 270 beds.

“Certainly, it's very sad and I know those beds will be missed,” Legeros told CTV News.

She said the infrastructure problems at Parkview Place are related to the funding allotments given to long-term care homes across Canada, which hasn’t increased in about ten years.

“So if there's no increase in funding, care is your number one priority and staffing is your number one priority, everything else has to take a backseat," she said.

 

Parkview Place was also the site of one of the largest COVID-19 outbreaks in a Manitoba personal care home.

The outbreak was declared over on January 12, 2021, and a provincial spokesperson told CTV News there have been 30 resident deaths and zero staff deaths related to COVID-19 at Parkview Place Personal Care Home.

 

Hrobat wonders if the outbreak had anything to do with the closure.

In its statement, Revera said, “While this decision was made independent of the home’s heartbreaking outbreak this past winter, the outbreak reinforced that closing is the right thing to do.”

 

On Wednesday NDP health critic Uzoma Asagwara was asked about the closure.

"We see nothing from this government to speak to what they plan to do to make sure that we do have spaces for residents to go, for their families to know they're receiving the care they deserve," they said.

 

A government spokesperson told CTV News that Health Minister Heather Stefanson is aware of Rivera’s decision to close Parkview Place personal care home.

“The WRHA has assured the Minister it does not anticipate spacing issues resulting from the closure,” reads their statement in part. “And it will work closely with residents and families to ensure a caring and respectful transition with priority access to available and appropriate options that meet their care needs within the region.”

 

The WRHA knew this closure announcement was coming and talks are underway on the overall personal care home capital plan for the region, according to a spokesperson. They also said options for reallocation of Parkview Place’s current operational funding to support new or redevelopment PCH opportunities to mitigate the loss of PCH beds in the system overall.

 

On top of the 160 Parkview Place residents that need to be moved, there are 302 people in the community who are waiting for a long-term care bed in the WRHA. Of those waiting, eight are considered urgent, the WRHA said.