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Status quo not serving our health needs - Dr. Peter Zalan

The provincial and federal health ministers met recently in Halifax to discuss how to reform and pay for health care after the current accord expires in 2014. The Ontario government awaits Don Drummond’s recommendations for revamping public services.
The provincial and federal health ministers met recently in Halifax to discuss how to reform and pay for health care after the current accord expires in 2014.

The Ontario government awaits Don Drummond’s recommendations for revamping public services. A past chief economist at TD Bank, Mr. Drummond said that he would try to protect health care. To do that, he has already signalled that the province will have to abandon the status quo.

What are our problems here in Sudbury on the front lines? Patients who no longer need acute care occupy many of our acute hospital beds (ALC patients).

Patients who do not need institutional care occupy many of our long-term care beds. There is no acronym, no descriptive term, to describe these ill-served individuals. In each case, the suitable accommodations, the suitable supports in the home, are not available in the community.

For accommodations, think multi-unit housing. For suitable supports in the home, think personal support workers. Let me explain.
The medical needs of an aging senior and the repair needs of an aging house both place demands on the fixed income of a retiree. A leaky roof or inadequate heating will not only create substandard housing conditions, but can increase health problems as well: for example, mold and poor air quality.

As a person ages in an aging house, it becomes difficult to distinguish a health concern from a housing concern. The beds at the Memorial site are not sufficient to meet the community’s needs, even if all 60 beds were kept open.

Unfortunately, the northeast has many poor elderly people, scattered over a huge geographic area. We have begun construction of housing units at Finlandia, a fine start, but only the first step in building capacity.

Personal support workers collectively form the foundation for home care. They provide assistance to our fragile elderly with the activities of daily living. This assistance is essential to make living at home a reality for many.

They are so poorly paid in Ontario that our home care agencies never have enough folks to provide seamless care. We need to do better.

Many “ALC” patients wait in hospital for hospice care. Hospices are essential for people who can no longer be cared for in their own homes during the process of dying. Maison Vale Hospice opened in Sudbury in September 2008. It provides wonderful care, but has only 10 beds.

I met a patient last week who told me that she was taking three different medications for high blood pressure.

“How often do you have your blood pressure checked?” I asked.
“Never, because I do not have a family doctor,” she said.
“In that case, how did you get your medications renewed?” I asked.
“I went to the walk-in clinic,” she said.

This is an unfortunate, but not uncommon, occurrence. We need a more effective primary care system, one that meets the needs of our seniors with chronic diseases. I look forward to reading Mr. Drummond’s report and the province’s list of its health-care priorities.

Dr. Peter Zalan is president of the Health Sciences North medical staff and co-chair of the Sudbury ALC Steering Group. This is Zalan’s first monthly column for Northern Life about the health care system.

Posted by Vivian Scinto

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