Seniors in residential care in Burnaby are going to get more help with day-to-day activities thanks to a nearly $4 million increase in care-aide funding for local care homes this year.

Health Minister Adrian Dix and Burnaby-Deer Lake MLA Anne Kang, the parliamentary secretary for seniors, were at New Vista care home in Burnaby Tuesday morning to announce the funding.

Under guidelines adopted by the health ministry in 2009, each senior living in a residential care home should get 3.36 hours of direct care per day for things like bathing, dressing and even just a few unrushed words of conversation.

“We’re not talking about anything frivolous,” Dix said.

But care hours weren’t being funded at the recommended levels when the NDP came to power in 2017, according to Dix, especially in Burnaby.

New Vista, he said, was being funded for just 2.72 hours per resident per day.

His government aims to change that this year.

In 2018/19, the province will spend an extra $3.9 million in Burnaby so that every senior gets at least three hours of direct care per day.

The new funding is part of a three-year plan to increase direct-care hours for seniors around the province to 3.36 hours per resident per day by 2021.

Provincewide, the plan will cost $240 million over the next three years.

“People living in residential care and their families expect to receive the best day-to-day assistance possible, and this investment is a key pillar of the Province’s strategy to improve supports for patients outside of hospital,” Kang said. “Staff at residential care homes in Fraser Health work incredibly hard and care a great deal for the seniors they serve. These investments support them with the resources needed to increase the level of care they provide and continue making their facilities a place residents can proudly call home.”

Where the money is going in 2018/19:

• AgeCare Harmony Court Care Centre, $248,000
• Carlton Gardens Care Centre, $1,110,000
• Dania Home, $239,000
• Fair Haven Homes Burnaby Lodge, $140,000
• George Derby Centre, $743,000
• Jubilee Multi-Generational Housing Society, $179,000
• New Vista Care Home, $899,000
• Normanna Home, $131,000
• Willingdon Care Centre, $216,000