The image is akin to hospital patients lying on stretchers in corridors waiting for beds.

What makes the situation worse for about 35,000 Ontario long-term care residents is an uncertainty about the fate of their homes, if a proposed new provincial Long Term Care Homes Act passes, says a Cambridge nursing home CEO.

“That’s just not good enough for our residents in Ontario,” Brent Gingerich of Hilltop Manor tells The Morning Report.

"This Act will put a 10-year deadline on our operating licence and provides no plan for what happens before or after that. After seven years government can decide to do anything it wants with our home, including close it and move the beds to another community."

With no funding commitment for the structural renewal of older homes, current and future residents will face uncertainty for the next decade while continuing to call three- or four-bed ward rooms home, says Gingerich.

Gingerich and other members of Cambridge’s long-term care community joined forces to deliver a message to their MPP, Gerry Martiniuk -- may the government remember them before this Act is passed. The Nov. 10 meeting brought those concerned about the future of long-term care in Cambridge together.

“During the meeting he was very supportive,” says Gingerich about Martiniuk, the Health critic for the Opposition. “He actually has written a petition on our behalf to present to the legislature.”

The politician spoke to those gathered about the process of how bills become law. “The new proposed Long Term Care Homes Act is being tabled by the Liberals. We have a number of concerns with that Act,” Gingerich reiterates.

So does the Ontario Long Term Care Association. It’s asking its member homes to solicit their MPPs for support in helping secure the future of their long-term care home and the care they need.

“The more people know about what is in this Act, the more they are concerned,” says OLCTA Executive Director Karen Sullivan in a news release.

Gingerich says in addition to meeting with their MPP, staff, families and residents are wearing buttons and signing postcards to express their displeasure with the proposed Act.

“This is our component of that grassroots campaign.” Hilltop Manor provides care and services to 90 residents and has been providing access to long-term care services in Cambridge for more than 30 years.

Gingerich says residents, families, staff and the community deserve a commitment and a plan for the future now, not 10 years from now. "That can be accomplished by fixing the licensing scheme in this Act and committing to the funding to begin a structural renewal program now so that older homes can provide residents with access to the same physical comforts that government is currently helping fund for residents in new and recently rebuilt homes."