A Lambton County-run long-term care home is planning to add 10-new dementia care spaces by 2023.
The Dementia House Project at Petrolia's Lambton Meadowview Villa is among 80 Ontario projects approved by the provincial government.
Lambton Long-Term Care General Manager Jane Joris said the facility will serve people who require behaviour supports for specific expression that place them and others at risk.
Joris said we need to provide support for people who have difficulty adjusting to life in the traditional long-term care model.
"Particularly people whose behaviours are triggered by crowds of people, inflexible schedules, people who need a quieter, more home-like setting. We don't have any sort of specialized, behavioural accommodations in Lambton county right now for people who are having those challenges, so this is very exciting for our community."
Joris said the project, which includes an addition of about 7,500 square-feet, and the retrofitting of a 3,000 square-foot space, is estimated to cost $4.1 million.
She said it's based on the Green House Project.
"So it's like a real home where people have normal activities like they would have in their own home -- a little bit different than prescribed schedules, etcetera, in the traditional long-term care model."
Late last week, the province announced it's providing unspecified funding for the project.
"We don't know for sure how much the province is paying for yet, those details are still to be coming. This is just the first step in the project where we apply for 10 new spaces and they've approved that for us, so we'll still be negotiating with them about costs."
The provincial funding is part of $933 million for 80 new long-term care projects across Ontario. The province said the funding will provide over 7,500 new long-term care spaces along with nearly 4,200 upgraded spaces.