TRURO – The owners of several private seniors' care homes have united to shine a light on deficiencies in a health-care system they feel takes away seniors’ rights.
"There are seniors in hospital waiting for beds but they are only being directed to private homes that are subsidized," said Sheila Archibald, owner of Brentwood Ponds Seniors Care Home. "We want the seniors themselves to be subsidized to give the seniors a choice."
Archibald, along with Marilyn Fisher, of Marilyn's Country Haven in East Stewiacke; Valerie Dorey, of Val's Rest Home in Hilden; and Sharon Lynds, of Meadowland Villa, Bible Hill, have been meeting with local MLAs, expressing their concerns about the inequality of seniors care in the province.
Some seniors living at the women's homes are being faced with the inevitable fact they will run out of funds to pay for accommodations and care at the privately-owned unlicensed homes, which will leave them with no choice but to seek placement in a provincially licenced institutions.
"When a person has worked hard all their life, paid their taxes and they chose to live in a privately-owned home but don't have enough money to pay their way, now the government tells them they don't matter," said Fisher.
Keith Menzies, executive director of the continuing care branch at the department of heath and wellness, said the province cannot provide funding for people in unlicensed privately owned residences and does not issue licences to such "boarding homes."
"The critical issue here for us in terms of what government supports and pays for, is government has a commitment to paying the health-care costs in licensed homes and the thrust of it is, for people living in seniors residences, they really shouldn't have a lot of health-care needs," said Menzies.
"If they have a need for ongoing health-care services, like nursing care or a lot of daily support, individuals should really be approaching the public system, and in which case, the government then pays the care costs and will sometimes subsidize their accommodations, depending on their ability to pay."
All of the women have experienced the heart-wrenching moment when a resident has been taken from their home to a larger institution because they no longer have enough funds to cover the cost of care without additional financial government assistance.
“’What did I do so wrong?' is what most of them ask," said Lynds. "They are crying, the family is crying. It is awful."
She claims the privately owned homes are able to provide the same level of care at half the cost that clients receive in many of the larger licenced homes receiving government funds.
The women say they have all occasionally helped cover some of their resident's costs, but many are facing hardships of their own.
"Once these doors are closed that's it," Dorey said. "If we close, where are our seniors going to go? They'll be stuck in those hospital beds.
"I didn't get into it for the money. I got into it because it's a passion I have. We dearly love our seniors."
The women say they have empty beds, but because they are not licensed they are overlooked by a one-point of entry system, directing seniors to larger licensed homes.
Menzies said while there are seniors in hospital who are waiting for nursing home placement, the reason they are allowed to stay in hospital is because they need the level of care and services provided in a nursing home.
"It really becomes a case of their needs not being appropriately met if they are not in a licensed setting," said the executive director.
He said services at the unlicensed seniors homes should primarily be of a room and board nature, rather than a care nature and if people were to look at the Home for Special Care Act, "it clearly says when people need care that if someone is living in one of the senior's homes and they start to develop a need for ongoing support and care, because that is a nursing care kind of function, they should really be referred to a licensed facility at that point."
Menzies said licenced-care facilities are subjected to annual inspections to ensure they meet all legislative requirements and regulations.
The women strongly believe despite the fact their homes are unlicensed they could have a greater role in senior's care if the government would be willing to work with them.
"I feel and urge all seniors, families and senior's groups and any health care providers to voice their opinions to government to make changes and subsidize today's seniors and future seniors so they will be treated equal," said Archibald.