Federal long-term care investment is needed: CMA president

Criticizing the “new mediocre” of care for seniors, the president of the Canadian Medical Association today called for federal investment in both long-term care facilities and home and community programs.

The federal government must begin investing now in long-term care infrastructure and make significant new investment in in programs for home and community care, Without that investment the viability of Canada’s health care system will be threatened as the proportion of Canadians over age 65 continues to grow, Dr. Chris Simpson said in a press release.

"Much is being made of the 'new mediocre' facing world economies, but right now Canada is asking far too many seniors and their families to endure mediocre access to care," he said, commenting on the latest federal fiscal update.

"We need to start making smart investments now or health care costs will continue to grow while still failing to meet the growing and evolving needs of our aging population."

Canada needs to start spending smarter and adjusting our health care system for chronic care of the aging, he said.

"Because we are not prepared, 15 per cent of our acute-care hospital beds are occupied by people who should be either at home with support services or in long-term care," he added.

"We are warehousing seniors in hospitals at $1,000 a day when long-term care would cost $155 and home care $55. We need to spend smarter."

Simpson said he was glad to see that the fiscal update documents make note of the government's aim to retain the ability to respond to such challenges as population aging.

However, the CMA will be looking for detailed provisions in the next federal budget for enhanced senior care and continued health care improvements, he said.

Simpson added that the inability to care for seniors properly is the real reason behind long wait times. "Wait times are not the price of public health."

In Alberta, lack of continuing care beds has resulted in seniors being forced to remain in active treatment hospitals, resulting in emergency room and acute care delays.

Last month the provincial government announced it would come up with the money to open 450 existing continuing care beds and fast-track the construction of 300 more.

Critics have pointed out that the problem has existed for years and that long-term care beds, while Alberta maintains a policy of not constructing new long-term care facilities.

Canada's 5.2 million citizens over age 65 are about 15 per cent of the population and account for almost half the health costs. By 2036, those over 65 will account for almost a quarter of the population.

Polling, commissioned by the CMA, has repeatedly revealed widespread anxiety among Canadians about their future health care in their retirement years.

According to the organization, a Nanos poll conducted recently in the two Nov. 17 byelection ridings of Whitby-Oshawa and Yellowhead found that 36 per cent of respondents felt Ottawa has done a poor job in preparing for future health care needs during their retirement. Twenty-two per cent thought the federal government was doing a good or very good job.

Seniors' care faulted in throne speech responses

Not a lot was said about seniors in the Alberta government's speech from the throne earlier this week. In the speech given by Lieutenant-Governor Donald S. Ethell at the March 3 opening of the second session of 28th Alberta Legislature, the government congratulated itself for building a seniors' care home in Strathmore.
It also stated the government will "invest in better seniors' care, focusing funding on aging in place and on innovative new technology that allows patients to recover in their own homes," and said Crown land may be made available for new continuing care centres.
However, in their responses to the throne speech in the legislature, several members of the opposition parties had plenty to say, honing in on current deficiencies and setting out how they would do it better.
"Well we don't have to look back on what's happening to the seniors in our province or some of the horrible, horrible things that we've seen," said Heather Forsyth, Wildrose MLA for Calgary-Fish Creek. "The government doesn't seem to understand that the fact of the matter is is that while we appreciate what they're doing in continuing care spaces, we have seniors in this province that need to be in long-term care nursing beds."
Forsyth noted that people such as Dr. Paul Parks had frequently spoken out about the need for building long-term care nursing beds because not everyone fits into the continuing care model.
"I saw that with my own mom, who was in a continuing care facility and ended up in the hospital," she said.
The MLA for Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre, Joe Anglin, also a Wildrose member, said he sees significant issues with the long-term care facility in Rocky Mountain House. Anglin pointed to understaffing that has resulted in residents being served cold food and not even being able to get the two meals a week to which they are entitled.
"What's happening here -- and to a T every one of the front-line healthcare workers in this long-term care facility…will testify that this now is an extreme example, and it's a critical situation, where proper care is not  being delivered," he said.
"The cutbacks have been too great," Anglin went on. "We have an imbalance in the system. I wish Rocky Mountain House was the only place, but it's not. We're seeing it elsewhere, in other places in the province, and this is a real issue that affects us."
As a result of government actions, increased healthcare costs are putting a strain on seniors and their families stated David Eggen, NDP MLA for Edmonton-Calder.
"We've somehow moved it out of the provincial budget, and so many more people are having to pay for care for seniors with assisted living and so forth. That price, that burden, is often more than families can afford.
Eggen believes however that care for seniors is not a drastic problem for society.
"We knew that the baby boom would be passing through our demographic for the last 50 years," he said. "It's arrived now, and with planning and with care we can build the public seniors' care that we require for these next number of years."
Seniors would benefit from major investments in healthcare under a New Democrat government, said party leader Brian Mason, MLA for Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood.
He said a plan for the $1 billion extra in federal health transfers Alberta will begin receiving next year would see the government investing in long-term care and home care and reducing prescription drug costs for seniors, along with supporting mental health care, and expanding medical and nursing programs.
According to Liberal leader Raj Sherman, Edmonton-Meadowlark MLA, a government he headed would bring in world-class home care, nonprofit community home care and lodge care and world-class nonprofit community-based long-term care.
"Alberta Liberals will bring in a drug plan so that seniors can afford their drugs, unlike the government who wants to bring in a drug plan that's a tax on the sick," he added. "If seniors can afford to get their get their drugs, they will actually stay out of the hospital system. We know this investment in a drug plan will improve their lives and save us money in the acute-care system."

Relatives denounce long-term care visit bans

The banning of relatives and others from visiting residents in long-term care facilities was denounced yesterday by a number of people affected by this management practice.
Shauna McHarg, Hugette Hebert and and Dennis Dupuis have all been temporarily or permanently banned from visiting relatives in Alberta facilities. They told their stories at an Edmonton press conference organized by Public Interest Alberta, which is calling on the provincial government to stop facilities from banning people from seeing their loved ones without due process.
Also on hand was Ruth Adria of the Elder Advocates of Alberta who has been banned from a number of facilities after bing asked by families to look into concerns about quality of care or abuse.
The issue was first brought into the public eye in an article I wrote for the December issue of the Edmonton Senior newspaper on Shauna McHarg's lengthy struggle to get more access to her parents, residents on separate wards at the Edmonton General Continuing Care Centre operated by Covenant Health.
McHarg is restricted to seeing her mother one hour a day five days a week, and has no chance to see her father. She has also been banned from visiting friends she made among the residents, including the late Beverly Munro, who had been vocal about her own complaints against the facility.
Covenant Health management figures upheld the restrictions against McHarg, but would not tell her why. This prompted her to seek help from the health minister, the Alberta ombudsman, the Health Quality Council of Alberta and the Alberta Health Services patient concerns officer, and eventually file a Freedom of Information and Privacy (FOIP) request.
The whole rigamarole has produced some partial victories, and one aspect is now being looked at by a judge, but her experience has mainly been one of buck passing and denial of ability to act.
"My goal is to see my parents," she told me. "Despite following the process I've been told to follow and spending three years doing it, there's no solution. It doesn't seem like Covenant Health is accountable to anyone."
While Huguette Hebert was also banned from a Covenant Health facility, Daniel Dupuis has faced a month-long ban at the St. Therese Health Centre in St. Paul, where his 101-year-old mother lives.
"I have complied with all the restrictions they have placed on me over the past two years, yet there is no process in place where I can challenge these restrictions that allow me to visit my mother just one hour a day," he said. "How is this possible in Canada?"
Because she wanted to stay in her husband's room when he was being changed, to see if there were any pressure sores, Hebert was banned for a day and told that if she didn't cooperate she could be banned forever from seeing her husband.
"Now the CEO of Covenant Health has the audacity to say that the only reason they ban people is to protect patients or staff," said Hebert."Well, I think the reason they are abusing their power by banning people is to protect their own bottoms."
If health facility operators such as Covenant Health currently have policies on banning set out, they should be made public. If they do not have well-defined and reasonable policies, the policies should be developed. There also should be a process of appeal of any bannings and undue restrictions to an authority that can determine their legitimacy and compel redress if necessary.
The alternative may be a legal battle.
"If the government is not willing to act to empower families with real due process, then we will explore taking legal action to represent the rights of these families to be together," said Bill Moore-Kilgannon, executive director of Public Interest Alberta. The  organization is asking people who have people who have banned or threatened with banning to get in touch with them with a view to the possibility of joint legal action.

Extendicare staff vote heavily in favour of strike

Workers at eight Extendicare long-term care facilities in Alberta have voted overwhelmingly in favour of strike action.
A statement by the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE), which represents the workers, said that recent series of votes has set the stage for the largest seniors care strike in provincial history.
The AUPE Extendicare bargaining group includes 1,200 seniors care employees and is the largest private-sector seniors care bargaining group in Alberta.
The eight Extendicare facilities provide about 1,000 seniors care beds.
Despite the favourable vote, a strike is not automatic.
The union and Extendicare will meet with a mediator July 5 in Edmonton. If there is no resolution on July 5, the union says it will plan its next steps. If a strike is called, 72 hours notice will be given.
According to the union, Extendicare is seeking net earnings rollbacks, a major reduction in sick time and a drop in the number of named holidays to the lowest number in any healthcare agreement in Alberta.
"What the employer proposes could drive experienced staff away to work at other seniors care sites," said AUPE negotiator Kevin Davediuk. "The agreement the employer wants will discourage new staff from working for Extendicare. Without an agreement that keeps and attracts new staff, elderly residents will be left to suffer and we're fighting against that."
As reported by the AUPE, worksite votes in favour of strike action were as follows: Extendicare Eaux Claires, Edmonton, 93 per cent; Extendicare Holyrood, Edmonton, 97 per cent; Extendicare Athabasca, 100 per cent; Extendicare Mayerthorpe, 96 per cent; Extendicare Cedars Villa, Calgary, 95 per cent; Extendicare Hillcrest, Calgary, 95 per cent; Extendicare Michener Hill, Red Deer, 99 per cent; Extendicare Fairmont Park, Lethbridge, 100 per cent.