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Another government cabinet shuffle has taken place in Ontario and efforts to improve the long-term care (LTC) system is put on the back burner once again.
Long-term care in Ontario is in crisis, but Ontario is not alone in facing the challenges of dealing with problems in LTC; there are similar issues in every province in Canada. The long list of challenges facing LTC was outlined in the recently released report by the Ontario Ombudsman titled “Lessons for the Long Term: Facts & Highlights”.
Government after government have tended to treat LTC as a secondary issue. What we must realize is LTC is part of the continuum of health care, which includes care for aging family members and vulnerable individuals, home care, hospital care, as well as palliative care.
There is a maxim which states, “There are decades when nothing happens, and weeks when decades happen.” During the height of the COVID-19 outbreak, we lived through a series of weeks and were witness to the chaos and tragic loss of lives in our LTC homes.
The past decade has seen a series of slowly evolving disasters, which have been ignored. Family members of residents in LTC, family councils, advocates for better LTC, as well as front line staff have been brushed off by politicians.
The LTC Act, which regulates how these homes are managed, is a very complicated piece of legislation, full of legal jargon and difficult to navigate; yet government leaders keep shuffling ministers through this important portfolio like a revolving door.
Constantly changing ministers of LTC who have no background in health care, let alone the knowledge of caring for the elderly in our homes, will do nothing to bring about positive change.
Where does LTC fall on the list of priorities of our governments?
So far, LTC homes have been lucky because of dedicated staff, family councils, volunteers and family members who visit on a regular basis to fill in the voids in care. That luck appears to be in jeopardy.
There is, for some people including for some health care professionals, an unspoken belief that people in LTC homes have gone there to live out their final days, so spending money for better care doesn't matter much in the wider view.
To quote Atul Gawande from his book “Being Mortal”, “The ultimate goal, after all, is not a good death, but a good life – all the way to the very end.”
Perhaps it's time for family members to tell our politicians that we demand better care for our vulnerable residents in LTC homes now, rather than just accepting statements from politicians that they will fix the problem.
Terry Martyn
Sudbury