3 couples reunited as Tignish Seniors Home opens its 12 new long-term care beds

Ryan McKellop · CBC News

· Posted: Jul 15, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 3 hours ago

A Tignish seniors location present has spaces disposable to let long-term attraction patients from occidental Prince Edward Island unrecorded person to their ain communities.

Penny McLeod, president of the committee of directors for the Tignish Seniors Home Care Co-operative, said radical rapidly snapped up the 12 caller long-term care beds the state precocious funded, successful a caller helping that supplements the existing 52 community-care spaces.

"All 12 are filled... We person 9 residents successful close now, truthful there's 3 to come, but we cognize who they are," she said Monday.  

Already, the caller spaces person meant 3 couples could be reunited successful the aforesaid gathering aft having had to unrecorded isolated owed to where vacancies suitable to their attraction needs were located. 

Among them are Vincent and Alma Doucette, who person been joined since 1980 but were separated for the past 2 years. Asked what she was looking guardant to, Alma Doucette replied: "Just being together, and to bash things together."

Nurse practitioner's relation welcomed

The new helping volition person a caregiver practitioner affiliated to supply attraction for the patients, thing McLeod called "absolutely amazing," fixed however hard it has proven for semipermanent attraction homes to find a aesculapian doc with the clip to provide.  

"We cognize determination is simply a shortage of doctors, truthful having a caregiver practitioner should beryllium a crippled changer," she said. "We're seeing them being utilized much and more... successful attraction situations."

The co-operative is simply a non-profit, truthful that means volunteers had to rise funds for the caller helping successful bid to beryllium capable to big the semipermanent attraction beds. 

"We lobbied government, and we did get a indebtedness done Finance P.E.I., but we [had to] travel up with $600,000 connected our own," said McLeod. 

They reached retired for donations done nationalist announcements, brochures, and mail-outs.

"We had immoderate precise generous donations. The Tignish Branch Number 6 Royal Canadian Legion gave america $150,000, truthful they are our golden contributor," McLeod said.

"We've had a mates $100,000 donations — one from the Town of Tignish, and 1 from Provincial Credit Union, besides from Bob's Pharmacy."

Some pledges volition travel successful for years

McLeod said that immoderate of the donations were pledges, truthful the wealth volition beryllium paid to the co-operative implicit the people of up to a decennary oregon more.

"In the lawsuit of the legion, they gave america the afloat $150,000 to assistance us," she added. 

Other donations from individuals included currency oregon nutrient gifts.

McLeod said the absorption to the quality astir the semipermanent attraction beds was electric, astatine archetypal among the unit astatine the Tignish Seniors Home. 

"It was precocious successful the afternoon, and I'll archer you determination were a batch of whoops and dancing." 

The manager and staff waited until the pursuing time to denote the quality to residents.

"The adjacent morning… she gathered everybody — and immoderate radical thought determination was different COVID, they had nary thought what to expect. And erstwhile she told them that we got our licence, well, radical started to cry, and radical were happy, and it was unreal," she said.

"One of the ladies [whose] husband is present successful the semipermanent attraction side, she enactment her manus up and she said, 'I thought you were lying to maine this full time. I ne'er thought this was expected to happen.'"