Report on seniors care in BC worrisome for Surrey family
Posted August 2, 2018 3:00 pm.
Last Updated August 2, 2018 3:03 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
SURREY (NEWS 1130) – A Metro Vancouver woman trying to find the right care home for her 83-year-old mother is now hoping she won’t have to place her in a privately-run facility.
Karen Reid Sidhu reached out to NEWS 1130 after hearing our reports about seniors in publicly-run homes being less likely to die in the hospital.
She says her mother has advanced dementia.
“I hope that she ends up in a public facility that’s properly funded. We’ve been able to keep her home under the CSIL program — Community Support for Independent Living– for [more than] four years, which is one of the best-kept secrets.
However, she requires more care because she is no longer mobile at all.”
RELATED: Caring for seniors with dementia taking toll on families
Health Minister Adrian Dix says changes are already being made to ensure nearly 28,000 seniors in public and private homes get the best care possible, but Sidhu doesn’t think the provincial government is doing enough to make sure private contractors are putting patients before profits.
“For them to maintain their licenses, they should have certain regulations in place. People that are working in these facilities do their very best. This is not about the frontline staff. We would never privatize our prisons. Why are we privatizing facilities that house our most vulnerable family members — our seniors?”
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The release of yesterday’s report by BC’s seniors advocate, Isobel Mackenzie, quickly led to the head of the BC Care Providers Association, which represents most private contractors, to question her findings. Daniel Fontaine feels Mackenzie’s research is flawed because it’s not more wide-ranging.
