Philosophy on elderly care needs overhaul: expert
BY CHINTA PUXLEY, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Posted 7 days ago
Ontario should look to the example set by Nordic countries and turn its understaffed, institutional long-term care homes, where residents are more likely to be restrained and medicated, into small community homes where staff have the time to drink coffee with their elderly charges, geriatric experts say.
In the wake of an analysis of nursing home inspection reports by The Canadian Press which found three-quarters of the province's homes are not meeting some of the province's 400 standards, some say it's time to fundamentally rethink how Ontario cares for its vulnerable residents.
The provincial inspection reports, from April 2007 to March of this year, show some long-term care homes have been cited for failing to provide a minimum of two baths a week while other residents didn't own a toothbrush.
The majority of homes in Ontario were cited for violating the specific set of standards that ensure residents are well-fed, clean and free of pain, as well as dictating how homes care for incontinent residents and when they use restraints.
Ontario ombudsman Andre Marin said he is preparing to launch an investigation into whether the governing Liberals are holding homes to account and is calling for people to share their experiences of long-term care homes.
But geriatric expert Christopher Patterson said virtually all societies have been guilty of neglecting their elderly parents and grandparents, a trend his research suggests has not wavered since the Renaissance.
"The 'family' rather than the 'hospital' is the ideal of residential care," she added. "The more generous funding and staffing levels make a difference."
Alan Findlay, spokesman for new Health Minister David Caplan, said the minister wasn't available to comment on how Ontario's long-term care homes compare to other jurisdictions.
York University professor Pat Armstrong, who co-authored a study comparing the Nordic system with several Canadian provinces, including Ontario, said workers in this country laugh when asked if they have a daily coffee with their residents.
Instead, she said they talk about not having time to explain to residents why they have to go back to their room, not being able to sit with residents when they are crying, or not allowing residents to even thoroughly chew their food.
Ontario's health-care system seems permeated by an attitude that if you can't cure people you simply abandon or "warehouse" them, she said.
Abridged
SOURCE: The Whig
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Every society needs to rethink the ways their seniors are treated. Politicians should consider whether they or their loved ones should be treated the same way as those in nursing homes.
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