I was pleased to welcome the Minister of Long-Term Care, Paul Calandra to our Markham Centre in March. He announced $1.7M in new funding to Yee Hong to increase daily direct care hours for each long-term care resident.

It’s good news that the Ministry is committed to improve care quality and quality of life for older adults in long-term care homes. The new money will help us to attract, retain and grow our care teams. Highly passionate and dedicated staff make all the difference in a resident’s day, adding psychological and social supports our residents need to live well.

However, the new funding won’t improve our extensive wait lists, which are estimated at over 4,000 people across our four Yee Hong campuses of care. That’s why we’re working to build new long-term homes and other services across the GTA. I let the Minister know that we need his help to increase access to our long-term care homes, community services and hospice/palliative care.

Last month the community brought us big a step closer to this goal at our dazzling Dragon Ball. I’d like to congratulate the Yee Hong Community Wellness Foundation for an amazing online show. It will be our capital fundraising campaign that allows us to build new Centres. Please support Yee Hong with your generous donations.

As we transition out of pandemic restrictions and continue to reopen our Centres and programs to the entire Yee Hong community, I’d like to imagine with you what the future Yee Hong will look like, and how we can secure our community and government’s support to achieve our strategic goals: elevating client, resident and family experiences to the next level; renewing our organization for sustainability and growth; and partnering with others to transform the system.

Although the last two years have been a marathon, Yee Hong continues to do remarkably well because we put health and safety first. Safety measures will continue, and if you don’t have your booster dose of the vaccine, I encourage you to get it as soon as you can.

The Minister’s visit marks the beginning of Spring, and when excellence and growth at Yee Hong continues. I wish you all a lovely Spring season full of health, happiness and excitement for what is to come.