A long-term care home in Mississauga's Cooksville neighbourhood is among the first in Ontario chosen for a new provincial program meant to improve day-to-day life for residents living with dementia.
The Ministry of Long-Term Care on Tuesday, Feb. 24, named 17 homes for the first year of its Improving Dementia Care Program. Cooksville Care Centre is the only Mississauga home on the list and one of four in the province's Central region, along with homes in Barrie, Unionville and Bolton.
What the program does
The province is putting $9 million over three years into the program, which it launched in September 2025. It plans to fund nearly 50 homes by 2027-28.
The money helps homes adopt what the province calls emotion-based models of care and train staff to use them. The approach puts residents' interests and experiences at the centre, with an emphasis on close relationships between staff, residents and families.
Each home works with a specific model. Cooksville Care Centre will use the Butterfly model, which was developed in the United Kingdom and organizes care into small, home-like neighbourhoods with colourful spaces and fewer institutional features.
Ontario Health assessed the homes chosen for the first year on demonstrated need, readiness to put the program in place and capacity to run it, the province said.
Why it matters
More than 60 per cent of residents in Ontario's long-term care homes have a dementia diagnosis, and the number of Ontarians with dementia is expected to triple by 2050, according to the Ontario Long Term Care Association.
Our government is investing in dementia care and supports to improve the well-being of long-term care residents, their caregivers and families.
— Natalia Kusendova-Bashta, Minister of Long-Term Care
Kusendova-Bashta is also the MPP for Mississauga Centre.
The Alzheimer Society of Ontario welcomed the announcement. Its CEO, Cathy Barrick, said provider training is essential to good dementia care.
We congratulate the 17 homes selected for this first round of funding and look forward to working with them to improve person-centred dementia care.
— Cathy Barrick, CEO, Alzheimer Society of Ontario
Specialized beds elsewhere
The same announcement included $3.35 million in 2025-26 and $9.82 million a year from 2026-27 to add up to 153 behavioural specialized unit beds at five homes. In these units, specialized staff tailor therapies to each resident, which the province says helps people get care in a long-term care home instead of a hospital. None of the five homes is in Mississauga; the closest is The Village of Ridgeview Court in Milton, which is getting 32 beds.
The province did not say how much Cooksville Care Centre will receive or when residents and families can expect to see changes at the home.
