Barrick Care (Formerly Marathon Long-Term Care) Project

The North of Superior Healthcare Group (NOSH) has signed an approval to construct with the Ministry of Long-Term Care (MLTC) for a new 14-bed Long-Term Care (LTC), an addition to its existing Wilson Memorial Hospital facility located in Marathon, Ontario and set to open as early as spring of 2025. The LTC home will be designed to fill in a “care continuum” gap within the Marathon catchment area, which includes the Town of Marathon, Biigtigong Nishnaabeg First Nation and Netmizaaggamig Nishnaabeg First Nation. There are currently no long-term care beds in the Marathon catchment area; with the closest LTC facility located 80 km to the west, at the NOSH owned/operated Wilkes Terrace twenty-two (22) bed LTC facility in Terrace Bay.

The Informing Care for Seniors 2021 report published by Ontario Health North has singled out Marathon as the only hospital-serviced community in Northwestern Ontario, that does not have any long-term care beds. Based on an estimated senior (>65) population of 500, the report identifies a current LTC bed demand of 25 beds, growing to 35 by 2035. This demand is currently partially met via a very progressive Assisted Living Program centered upon the Peninsula Manor Seniors Supportive Housing complex and the Wilson Memorial General Hospital CCC and Acute wards. While these facilities and programs fill a gap, they are not the specialized, dedicated facilities that can best support the unique medical and social needs of residents best cared for in long term care facilities.

Over the past five fiscal years, the Wilson Memorial General Hospital has averaged 3.5 Alternate Level of Care (ALC) patients in our acute ward. The vast majority of these ALC patients are ALC awaiting LTC. Additionally, the twelve bed CCC ward operates at 100% occupancy, as does the 36 apartment, Peninsula Manor Seniors Supportive Housing facility. Significant wait lists exist in the community for all these care levels and multiple local residents have had to relocate away from their families to find appropriate LTC accommodation throughout the Province.

The addition of 14 long term care beds allows for efficient staffing levels that will meet the new minimum nursing and allied health care daily bed hour standards, and helps strengthen our healthcare campus concept in Marathon. This campus currently includes Wilson Memorial General Hospital, Superior North Emergency Services (ambulance), Peninsula Manor Seniors Supportive Housing and Marathon Family Health Team (primary care); all within a centrally located section in the community. Additionally, sufficient land and infrastructure exists to scale up the LTC facility in the future, if demand growth warrants.

NOSH has had very significant success operating Wilkes Terrace LTC facility in Terrace Bay, which is physically attached and fully integrated with the McCausland Hospital facility. This experience has prompted NOSH to propose a similar shared design for our Marathon facility. The fourteen bed LTC wing is proposed to be located at the south end of the existing hospital adjacent to the current Complex Continuing Care unit (CCC).The new LTC unit would therefore share operational resources with the existing Wilson Memorial Hospital, namely: dietary, housekeeping, maintenance, IPAC, nursing and all administrative functions. We believe that this type of resource sharing allows for a financially and operationally efficient, integrated facility that builds upon our experience and success operating the Terrace Bay Hospital and LTC facilities.