Home care

This year, “Home for the Holidays” has a different meaning for Grandma and Katie.

It’s a story that’s become all too common – Canadian seniors can’t get the care they need at home and are forced to leave. As part of a national seniors plan, we are recommending the development of specific principles for home care funding.

With the tagline “independence, activity and good health,” the provincial plan promotes wellness and prevention to improve equity, access and quality of care for the elderly.

Critics say that Aboriginal, Métis and Inuit Canadians over age 65 are paying for the lack of collaborative problem-solving between government departments and agencies.

Canadian seniors would be healthier, and the health care system more effective, if an affordable, supportive housing strategy was in place throughout the country.

Whatever form it takes—spacious suburban bungalow or urban condo—our homes are more than roofs over our heads. We invest them with memories and emotions.

New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland and Labrador have joined with the federal government to sign separate deals on health care transfer payments, and it appears that increased funding for home care was a major selling point for all three.

Ontario is making a $100-million infusion into its home care system this year that will include break times or respite for overworked caregivers looking after chronically-ill loved ones.

The Canadian Medical Association (CMA) is proposing the creation of an innovation fund to expand home care services as the best way to invest the $3 billion that the federal government has already pledged for urgently needed improvements in this area.

Nadine Henningsen, Executive Director at the Canadian Home Care Association, speaking on how important homecare is to seniors.

Every day, physicians see first-hand the inefficiencies of a broken system trying to support our elderly. It’s commonplace for doctors to assign patients to gurneys in the hallway because hospitals are over capacity by mid-morning.

The Champlain Community Care Access Centre (CCAC) is launching a new Innovation Centre that will help more people stay at home longer, better support caregivers, and improve access to home health care technologies.

Most people would agree that given the choice, they would prefer to grow old in the comfort of their own home. Thanks to technological advancements, seniors can live at home longer, while looking after their own health and remaining engaged members of their community.