John Dance
The Greystone Village Retirement Residence became Bruyère Health’s Greystone Village Transitional Care during the pandemic and will continue serving Ottawa’s seniors who require transitional care until at least 2028. Photo by Bruyère Health The Greystone Village Retirement Residence (GVRR) was repurposed to be a transitional care unit during the first year of the pandemic, and this use will continue for at least three more years as a result of a recently negotiated agreement between Bruyère Health and the owners of the residence. The seven-storey retirement residence, located to the northeast of the Deschâtelets Building and in the middle of Greystone Village, was designed to have 146 housing units and 23 care units for seniors, lots of common area, and views from each room of either the river or nearby parkland. When the owners were getting ready to welcome first-time residents in 2020, the pandemic struck and the opening was delayed. Simultaneously, local hospitals were overwhelmed with COVID patients, lacking capacity to deal with them in part because many beds were in use for those waiting for a room in a long-term care facility or in need of specialized care before returning home.
As The Mainstreeter reported in 2020, “Bruyère, which has been working during the pandemic with healthcare partners and the province of Ontario to help ease the challenges regarding the availability of beds and the flow of patients, saw GVRR as a perfect fit, as did the local owners and operators of the new retirement home.” “By creating a very strong relationship with a multitude of partners and the leadership of Bruyère, we will be able to say that we’ve opened a medium-sized hospital in three months,” Guy Chartrand, CEO of Bruyère, told CTV when the deal was struck to create the transitional care units in GVRR. The new facility has had 1,500 patients with a median stay of three months. Although the pandemic is over, the need for the transitional units remains and there continues to be a waiting list. Under the new agreement, Bruyère Health’s transitional care unit will continue to operate until at least March 2028. Bruyère Health is Eastern Ontario’s leading health organization specializing in aging, rehabilitation, and complex care. It provides care to those who “are managing a loss of their independence and function, often as a result of a significant medical event or illness.”
“While acute-care hospitals save lives, our specialized hospitals restore independence and function, providing patients with a bridge back to home,” Bruyère’s website says. “When this is not possible, we work to accommodate the loss of independence through longterm care and specialized complex medical care.” Bruyère Health has a total of four sites in Ottawa: one in Orleans, one near the ByWard Market, one in Centretown, and Greystone Transitional Care in Old Ottawa East. At the Greystone facility, there are typically 75 people on staff during weekdays, 40 on weekends, and 30 at night. This includes registered nurses, registered practical nurses, personal support workers, allied health staff such as physiotherapists, occupational therapists, and social workers, food service and administrative staff, as well as physicians. For parking, there are 35 spots within the building itself, which covers those working at night. Staff working during the day have an additional 35 spots in the underground parking of the Milieu apartment building on des Oblats Avenue. Many staff also use public and active transportation to get to work. Visitors are advised to use the nearby Saint Paul University parking lot. The post-2028 future of GVRR for transitional care is not known at this point. “It’s all up in the air – so much has changed with the pandemic,” says Jennifer Martel, one of the coowners Patients at Greystone Village Transitional Care generally should be 65 years or older, medically stable, have needs that can be met by available resources, and are referred by a healthcare provider. Patients requiring one-to-one care or who are violent are not eligible.
OOE’s “medium-sized hospital”
A new agreement between Bruyère Health and Greystone Village Retirement Residence
will maintain the status quo at the 132-bed facility.
A perfect fit for Bruyère
Consequently, “Transitional Care at Greystone Village Retirement” was established. The first “transitional care” patients at GVRR were admitted in November of 2020 and, as rooms were adapted for transitional care use, additional patients were admitted to what became a 132-bed facility.
One of four Ottawa sites
of GVRR. She says the Bruyère’s transitional care unit is helping seniors in the The future of Greystone Village Transitional Care is uncertain Ottawa area who do not need to be in an acute-care hospital. “I see how well it’s been used with happy patients and happy staff.”
