United Counties of Prescott and Russell (UCPR) council has decided to reallocate funds to cover unforeseen expenses associated with a program which trains new Personal Support Workers (PSW) at the Prescott and Russell Residence in Hawkesbury.
On August 27, council approved reallocating $295,715.72 of unused funds from the PSW salary budget of the 2025 UCPR budget and reallocating them to the PSW student salary and benefits budget. According to a report presented to council by Prescott and Russell Residence Administrator Eric Larocque, this reallocation is intended to ensure the continuity of the ongoing training and to address the urgent staffing needs.
The PSW training program is intended to address a labour shortage in long-term care and is called The Living Classroom. This training model enables participants in the Personal Support Worker (PSW) program to learn directly in the workplace, combining theory and practice. Over the past two years, nearly 50 PSWs have been trained through this approach. The September 2025 cohort, consisting of 29 students, is already underway. It aims to address the identified need for 36 additional PSWs to reach the required staffing level of 147 employees necessary to serve 224 residents and allow for the admission of 78 more as part of the planned expansion. This staffing increase is also essential to secure provincial funding tied to the capacity growth.
However, certain costs associated with the September cohort were not anticipated in the 2025 budget, including adjustments to training hours and benefits such as the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS) pension fund.
There were no questions or discussion among council prior to adopting the resolution to reallocate the funds.
