Seniors advocates in Altona had the ear of Manitoba's Seniors and Long-Term Care minister, Scott Johnston, earlier this week. Board members and administrators for Gardens on Tenth welcomed the Minister to the campus-style facility on Monday. 

"It's always a pleasure for me to come and observe different operations, successful operations that are going on to fulfill the needs of seniors," said Minister Johnston. "The Gardens operation does accommodate a concept that the provincial government continues to support, and that's the development of campus opportunities, or pathways, for seniors. It's a real compliment to these people on what they're accomplishing right now."

The Minister added, the meeting continued to fulfill his understanding of what's being offered in Manitoba. 

Gardens representatives also used Monday's meeting to share their thoughts and experiences of what seniors. 

Funding for supportive housing was one of the items.

"The funding that we receive hasn't changed in the last thirteen years though all of our expenses have gone up," explained Board Chair John Falk. "So, we tried to impress on him that we needed to improve that funding."

Falk added, they were also pleased to see that the Province is supporting the Self and Family Managed Care program to a larger extent. The Province announced last week that the program’s annual funding is increasing by $12.6 million in 2022-23 and a further $1.3 million in 2023-24 to $13.9 million. 

"I think that announcement will have an impact on all areas that are facilitating Self and Family Managed Care," said Minister Johnston. "When you have a situation where you have increased funding, you open up a lot of opportunities, and that is certainly something that this operation will be able to take advantage of too."

The concept of block homecare was also brought up at the meeting. 

"We have quite a few homecare people who come through every day, and we have a lot of tenants that need homecare, but if we could do this with block homecare that we had someone in the building for eight to twelve hours a day, I think it would save the Province a lot money but it would also provide better care for our tenants," added Falk. 

Additionally, Falk said the group discussed the need for more funding programs to help pay for renovations that would bring outdated facilities up to today's standards of accessibility. 
    
Minister Johnston said this feedback is beneficial as the Province continues to develop its overall seniors strategy.

"The organization certainly brought forward some areas of interest and I will be further reviewing some of the concepts that they brought forward, and that continues to play into what the whole strategy is about and that is to ensure we're meetings seniors' needs."

Included in the Manitoba Government's supports announced last week was $1.3 million in 2023-24 to support the first phase of expanding Manitoba palliative care services, starting in Southern Health-Santé Sud. According to the Province, the program will increase support for caregivers in all settings, improve the delivery of inpatient palliative care, and enhance training and awareness of palliative care for health providers. The regional health authority will also reach out to First Nations communities to provide access to specialty support.

"We're starting off in the Southern Health area because they are best suited, right now, to accommodate the initial program or service," added Minister Johnston. "As we continue to fine-tune the whole initiative, we will pursue it in the whole province."

Overall, the Minister says there are more announcements in store for the future.

"When we established the Seniors Strategy, we identified seven focuses. We've announced some of the initiatives we're going to pursue to ensure those seven focuses are initiated, but there's more to come."