Chris Puglia
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Sep 13/02) - Aven Manor has been granted funding for two new staffing positions that will allow it to temporarily use two beds that were closed on July 31.

The positions are for the remaining six months of the fiscal year, equating to approximately $70,000 in funding.

The funding, however, is a short-term solution.

"We still want to sit down with the government and Yellowknife Health and Social Services to discuss needs for ongoing funding for better staff-client ratio, which has been unchanged since 1995," said Allan Falconer, president of the Yellowknife Association of Concerned Citizens for Seniors (YACCS).

The manor will be admitting what they describe as lighter-care residents, which would exclude clients requiring dementia-related cares.

"We are not wanting to take clients that would create a higher demand on our caseload," said Falconer.

Although clients are being accepted, Aven Manor is reserving the right to freeze admissions again if the workload increases to a point that operations are deemed unsafe.