megram - Index

megram - 55NovOttawa - Index

Your Health
By Lise Cloutier-Steele
Editor’s Note: We receive hundreds of letters and emails with first-hand accounts of family care givers’ trials and
tribulations — from challenging decisions about helping a loved one move from the family home to a retirement
residence, to managing the stress of seeing a family member suffer the shortage of health care providers in
long-term care facilities.The following unsolicited, unedited account comes from an Ottawa reader.
WANTED:
People Who Care
Good long-term care can be hard to find – and is not getting easier
Since my 83-year-old father’s admission to a long-term
care facility in May 2007, I have had first-hand experience
with the adverse effects of staff shortages and
excessive workloads on dependent residents.
My father is more fortunate than most in that he
resides in a home with an outstanding reputation where
the staff is genuinely caring. In fact, this home has only
been cited once in the history of its existence for not meeting
one of the 400-plus standards set out by the province,
so it is definitely one of the good ones.The problem is that
the home does not have enough personnel to meet the
individual and basic needs of all the home’s residents.
According to Statistics Canada, Ontario has the second
worst long-term care staffing levels in the country.Not only
are staffing shortages epidemic across the province,but the
provincial government has yet to act on the Provincial
Auditor’s criticisms regarding the lack of accountability and
the lack of connection between assessed needs and care
levels. In other words, the current situation in nursing
homes is detrimental to the welfare of its residents, and no
one is reacting to it.
The inconsistency in the number of staff working in
Continues on page Ottawa 14
November/December 2008 • Ottawa 12 • Fifty-Five Plus Magazine