Located in Carman, Manitoba, the Boyne Lodge is a 70 bed Personal Care Home that was built in 1967 by the communities and municipalities in its catchment area which encompasses the Town of Carman and the Rural Municipalities of Dufferin, Roland, Thompson and Grey.  

Spearheaded by Carman’s Young Citizens Group, the Lodge was built as a seniors’ hostel to provide housing and light care for seniors with minor cognitive and physical impairments.  Over the ensuing five decades, the needs of its residents and the community have changed to the point where 94% of Boyne Lodge residents have Level three and four needs – care levels for which the current building was not intended or designed.  

For the well-being of some of our community’s most vulnerable people and the professionals who care for them, this facility needs to be replaced.

Demographics

The Boyne Lodge catchment area includes 14 communities in five municipalities, all within a 50 kilometre drive from Carman.  Total population of the catchment area in 2016 exceeded 10,000 residents, with an estimated 1,010 people over the age of 75 years (9.4% of 2016 population). 

With a total of 88 PCH beds in the catchment area (70 in Boyne Lodge, 18 in the St. Claude Pavillon), the ratio of beds to residents aged 75+ is 87.1 per 1,000, which is below the provincially recommended ratio of 110 beds per 1,000. By 2022, the catchment areas 75+ population is projected to grow to 1,207, and by 2042 that number balloons to 2,070. 

This means that unless changes are made, the ratio of 75+ residents to PCH beds will decrease to 42.5 beds per 1,000 – less than half of the present recommended ratio.

Demand

Heavy demand for scarce Personal Care Home beds in the Southern Health-Santé Sud region has also increased the use of Alternate Level of Care/Transitional beds for those people waiting placement in a Personal Care Home.

Analysis shows that from 2005-2012, 47.9% of people waiting placement did so in Transitional Care facilities, while another 52.1%, representing 17,183 transitional care days, were in acute care facilities, where cost of care can exceed $1,000 per day per person.