The
Long-Term Care Issue in Canada
Write your Member of Parliament!
Send your local Provincial Government Member of the Legislative Assembly
and
your Federal Member of Parliament a letter or postcard.
Click here for a letter you can copy and use or adapt and send
by
regular post (to ensure he/she receives it personally) or even by e-mail
to
your provincial MLA and MP.
Tell him/her that the government must undertake to educate its citizens
about the issue of long-term care and how families can prepare for such
an
important time in their lives. Yes, we realize that it is like opening
up
Pandora's box for a government to address this issue, but as citizens we
want information, we want to do the right thing within our families.
Click below to find the appropriate addresses for your elected
representatives, provincially/territorially and federally.
Take a moment as this issue can significantly impact your life and the
lives
of your loved ones.
Provincial/Territorial Elected Representatives
To find your Member of Parliament for your province or territory, click on the following:
Alberta
British Columbia
Manitoba
New Brunswick
Newfoundland/Labrador
Northwest Territories
Nova Scotia
Nunavut
Ontario
Prince Edward Island
Quebec
Saskachewan
Yukon
Federal MP Representatives
Start Here for Federal MP Addresses |
What are our care-years? Why should we, as
Canadians, take time to plan for them now?
Our care-years stage of life, quite simply,
is just another stage in our lifetime, such as our school-years,
our working-career years, our family-raising years and our retirement
years, all of which we need to plan well in advance for if we
are going to have a quality of life during that stage.
BUT how is this stage defined, you ask, well,
our 'care-years' is defined as 'a period of time when we need
to obtain some services in order to remain living in our own homes,
in an independent manner' (i.e. help with some of our everyday
lifestyle activities that we used to do for ourselves but now
cannot do on our own as well or as easily anymore). Statistics
Canada tells us that many of us enter our 'care-years stage of
life' at the approximate age of 70 years.
Well then, what is long-term care (LTC)?
We are in what is called long-term care (LTC) when
we need services (help) 'on an on-going basis' (at least
3 months in a row) because we can no longer, for some health reason
or due to our aging, do some of our normal everyday activities
of living.
Think about it this way, what did you do this
morning from the time you woke up. Did you get out of bed, walk
to the bathroom, shower, do your toiletries, get dressed, prepare
breakfast, get your medications ready and take them appropriately,
tidy-up the kitchen, do some home chores, drive to an appointment,
meet friends, return home, prepare lunch….and so forth?
When we no longer can do several of those regular things on our
own, as a result of a chronic illness or a stroke or heart condition
or a severe accident or from the aging process itself and we need
some help with these everyday things each day (things we have
taken for granted most of our lives), then we are in need of long-term
care; and if we are in need because of growing older, then we
have entered our long-term care years stage of our life.
CARE-YEARS?
A time in our lives (any age) when we need a combination of support services
so we can live as independently as possible
..preferably, in our own homes
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And why is long-term care such an important
factor when it comes to our lifestyle and retirement planning?
A straight-forward answer: Because getting the
care (that is help) we need, when we need it, is expensive…darn
costly both emotionally and financially!
Yes, our family will help out as our care-givers, but
for how long and at what cost to their own lives; yes,
our spouse will help out as a care-giver, but at what cost to
her/his health; yes, we can get some government services and I
know we all feel entitled to these services, but what actually
exists now and for whom and what are the criteria and for how
long will our provincial/territorial governments be able to offer
these programs?
The bottom-line is that we need to plan carefully for
this stage of our life and thus not become dependent
on our loved ones or on our federal or provincial or territorial
government programs, so we can keep our much-treasured independence
as long as possible.
Here is a hint for seniors and for those Canadians with
aging parents--take a good look at the pie-graph below
as it gives us an indication of how long we may spend in the big
three stages of our life...the real question becomes,
what part of our retirement years that we plan so very carefully
for and look forward to, will we be spending needing some care,
since these care services are expensive and thus we have to look
ahead to cover those as part of our retirement plan.
As well, what if we need those long-term care services early
on in our lives due to an accident or a major health condition,
have we planned for those costs in our everyday lifestyle planning,
what will be the impact on our family, our jobs, our future? In
addition, have we planned for our parents’ long-term care
as it is going to have a significant impact on our lives?
So, the answer to why we have to plan as soon as possible
for a long-term care stage of our lives is two-fold,
one because it can occur unexpectedly anytime in our lives and
two, because, as Canadians, we are probably going to live long
lives as seniors and have need of those everyday services when
we can’t do all for ourselves.
| Interested in obtaining
a free 'Guide" on living options in your province?
Click here
to order. |
| For a Profile and
Fact Sheets on Canada's Senior's click here. |
Of interest: Why is long-term care an issue now in our country?
- Before-We died from poor health
- Now-We live.with poor health-thus dependency
- Before-Institutional care
- Now-Community based care by families and friends is the norm; seniors want to age-in-place
- Before-Low life expectancy and high fertility level
- Now-High life expectancy and low fertility levels
- Before--Families stayed together-- an expectation that children would be caregivers
- Now-A high divorce rate, less contact with children who often live some distance from parents and are less likely to be able to give care
- Before-There were less women in our labor force
- Now-Significantly more women in the labor force for longer periods of time and care giving has a direct impact on retirement
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Health of Older Canadians
- 4 out of 5 seniors living at home suffer from a chronic health condition
- Most common chronic health problems are arthritis and rheumatism, followed by high blood pressure, allergies, back problems, chronic heart problems, cataracts and diabetes
- 1 out of 4 Canadian seniors has a long-term disability or handicap (1997 numbers)
- Senior women live longer than senior men, but only about one quarter to one-third of those extra years are spent free from disability
- Seniors aged 85 and over were 70% more likely that seniors 65-74 to suffer an injury that limits their activities
- Senior women are nearly 60% more likely to suffer an injury than senior men
- Falls are a main cause of injury, accounting for, in the 90s, 84% of injury-related hospital admissions, and 585 of deaths among seniors population
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Millions of Canadians are
now faced with a new challenge, for which they’re
