Government practices force neglect of elders
We all grow old -- what will you do when it's your turn? (Photo from Hospital Employees’ Union)
A few years ago the Liberal government cut back the number of long-term care beds. That now means that if an elderly person falls and breaks a hip they end up in the hospital. If the break means that they can no longer live on their own, then they go on a waiting list to get into Columbia House. In the meantime, they are staying in hospital — taking up a bed that someone else might need. Some of these patients are ending up ‘living’ in hospital for months, maybe even a year or so. Our hospital used to have 13 beds. Now it has 8. That was also part of the Liberal cutbacks.
So let’s say that you have this elderly person in the hospital and a long-term care space becomes available in Golden. The patient has to take it or they get moved to the bottom of the waiting list. They are forced to leave their community and go to Golden where they have no family, no friends, no familiarity. Then they must wait there until a space becomes available back home. This may take 2 months or 2 years. It depends on how quickly people here die off. In the meantime, this ‘valley pioneer’ is likely to die in a strange place all alone.
Another issue around seniors’ care is the level of staffing in long-term care facilities. The government has set 3.4 hours per day as ’sufficient’ care time. That means that a resident at Columbia House will have interaction with a staff person for at best 3.4 hours in a day. That includes dressing, toileting, feeding, changing, medication, wound care — any kind of contact.
There are 35 residents at Columbia House and it’s separated into 3 wings, one of which is a locked dementia ward for aggressive patients or those who are at risk for elopement. Each wing has, on average, 1.5 staff at a time. When they are working that short staffed, obviously no resident actually gets that so-called ’sufficient’ 3.4 hours of care. And I think allocating only 3 hours of care to anyone is disgraceful to begin with.
Feeding one person can take a half hour. Dressing some takes a half hour. Toileting is about 20 minutes. How can anyone give quality care under those restrictions!? It certainly leaves no time to just sit and hold the hand of a frail and lonely old person.
Here is another issue. Our hospital has a fully functioning kitchen. The cooks used to make wonderful, healthy and nutritious meals. Now all meals are trucked in, frozen, from Kelowna. The hospital has a sterilizing room with all the equipment, but now supplies are trucked to (I think) Cranbrook for sterilizing. There are laundry facilities in the basement, but now all laundry gets trucked to Nelson.
These are all jobs that were lost here in Invermere. And in this economic and environmental climate how much sense does it make to truck stuff around the province?
Submitted by Chris Snyder.
The state of seniors’ care in B.C. affects all of us
Have you had trouble finding a long-term care bed for a frail parent who requires 24/7 care? Can you afford extra fees and charges? Has someone in your family had their surgery cancelled because a shortage of long-term care beds left seniors waiting in hard-to-get hospital beds?
The truth is that we’re all affected by the crisis in seniors’ care in British Columbia, and the crisis is getting worse. Families are worried that their loved ones in long-term care aren’t receiving enough hands-on care to keep them healthy and engaged.
Communities large and small are watching as the public and non-profit care homes they built are closed, to be replaced with private, for-profit facilities. And seniors can’t get the support they need to live safely and independently in their own homes.
You can send a message to the premier, health minister, opposition leader and your MLA about the state of seniors’ care in B.C. by visiting the website at www.StandUPforSeniorsCare.ca.
We also hope to have some great commentary here from our MLA and candidates on this issue in preparation for the upcoming election.
I hear ya, LS. I come home at times just crying because I know that there were lonely, old, and scared people under my care that needed my attention…and I didn’t have the time to tend to them. I had too many people to look after…and not enough time to go to each of them. Sometimes it makes me wonder why I am doing this job. It certainly isn’t for the money. And a day at work definitly, isn’t a ‘good time’. I do it because I care. If I can make any kind of difference in the last few hours or days or weeks of someone’s life, I want to be there. I know that someday it will be me…lying there, in that bed…scared and alone….and I would like to think that there will be someone there, to hold my hand and tell me that it will be ok….. This is why we do this kind of work. Who else can hold the hand of a dying person while they make that last transition and then come back again tomorrow and do the same thing….over and over again….. We do it because we care………..
Local autonomy and local volunteer health boards were all disbanded and the board members essentially fired soon after the BC Liberal’s were elected in 2001.
The Liberal’s also fired many Non-profit society boards so they could takeover the Long Term facilities. They then closed the public Long Term Care beds paving the way for privatization. With no local autonomy or voice, which had all been strategically removed, the Liberal’s have been free to restrict Seniors care and not keep their Long Term Bed promise of 5000 beds.
This has a huge negative impact on health care in the interior and rural areas. Currently, a huge percentage of hospital beds in the Region are being used by Seniors who require alternative care. This has created a situation where all hospitals have hallway patients (never required before Liberal’s were elected) and if you have had a loved ones surgery cancelled, it all goes back to this issue and it’s great that Chris Synder as raised it.
2.3 to 3.4 hrs per senior care. We are following like geese. We pay for our govt.s salaries and we allow them to decide such matters of hourly care for our seniors. Do you see any follow up to see what care they are actually receiving? Have they questioned if these are adequate numbers for proper care of human beings. I could sit in an office somewhere and make decisions too. They will continue to decide for us if we let them. I vote for proper care of seniors, they have earned it!!!!!!! How about you???????????
Rest easy, Farmgirl. WE will initiate a follow-up. WE will see whether or not these hours are not only sufficient hours, but actual hours. Do these residents get the time they are supposed to be getting, the time they deserve? That’s what we need to find out. Whether it’s 2.1 or 3.2……. And I don’t know that the NDP has the answer, or the Green Party or the Conservatives. I do know that the Liberal Party doesn’t. If they did, we wouldn’t be in the shape we’re in. And if you want to know what shape we’re in….ask someone who works in the system. Ask the front line workers. Ask the people who were not allowed to participate in the ‘Conversations on Health’.
I am very curious as to why we have had no Liberal response to this article. Do they not care? Is this issue not high on their priority list? Is it on their agenda at all? Or are they at a loss for words with regards to the mess they have gotten us in?
Good Question Chris,
I respect Norm Macdonald for going to bat for our seniors. He has been hard at it for over a year. When I was having issues surrounding the care and residential decision regarding my 96 year old friend last year, Norm was there for us and has already been hard at work on this and many other local issues. Norm has my vote and I encourage anyone else to contact Norm themselves or talk to a few of the many locals who have benefitted from his hard work.
For anyone who is interested, HEU (Hospital Employees Union) has launched a Stand Up for Seniors campaign…. you can get all the information you need by going to..
http://www.standupforseniorscare.ca/
Kaslogirl: I can’t let your comments go unanswered. You obviously don’t understand the role of an Officer of the Legislature. The Ombudsman, Information and Privacy Commissioner, etc. are NOT adminstrative tribunals. Nothing like them.
So there is no appeal of an adminstrative tribunal decision as far as they are concerned. You appear to have the Officers of the Legislature confused with the Human Rights Tribunal which is completely different in role and structure.
As Officers of the Legislature they report to the legislature. They are independent and do not take direction from the government of the day. If they see problems, issues, unfairness, they can comment publicly. But to say they are accountable to no one, and that is somehow a negative, shows an odd interpretation of what independence means.
You claim that you have experience with these agencies, and you argue against Norm MacDonald’s suggestion for a Representative for Seniors. But your lack of basic knowledge betrays the fact that you in fact have had NO experience with these agencies. Your argument in response to Mr MacDonalds suggestion is based on a complete lack of understanding of the roles of the current Officers.
Kingsley, I am sorry for the over-generalization. It was made more to make the point that these 3 agencies, because they are each somewhat independent of government control and accountability, have a lot of internal corruption and do not always get their job done right because of vested interests. In my opinion, the Human Rights Tribunal is the worst, while the Privacy Commissioner is fairly much doing his job properly, but does not have a lot of power.
The Human Rights Tribunal is an administrative tribunal.
The Ombudsman is a statutory officer of the legislature.
The Information and Privacy Commissioner is an office established by statute (FIPPA, 1993).
Thank you for being more precise.
I relive the terrible way my dad died in a long-term care home in 2005. He had evolving, escalating health challenges stemming from childhood heart damage. He was infected in hospital with C difficile and two months later he died of multiple organ failure. At the time, there were no palliative beds available so he was admitted temporarily to long term care for “repite”. His last dinner was salty soup and cheesies. No doctor saw him in those 4 days. He died at 3 AM and I waited 25 minutes for the one nurse and assistand on duty (for 70 residents) to come to his room. His doctor failed, the hospital failed, the end of life services failed and long term care failed. I blame Interior Health managment and fear little has changed. I am especially worried for seniors suffering dementia or who are alone.