Nearly half of Ontario’s long-term care home residents live in facilities in need of upgrades, and an association representing the operators of those facilities wants whoever wins the June 12 election to do something to improve the situation.
And with the number of seniors across the province expected to see a rapid rise, the entire situation is a “ticking time bomb,” according to Candice Chartier, CEO of the Ontario Long-Term Care Association.
Chartier was in Kitchener on Wednesday as part of a province-wide tour timed to coincide with the election campaign.
“You can see, when you walk around and talk to the residents, the differences that you see here compared to what an older home has,” she said from Lanark Heights.
“All of our seniors deserve to have the same level of care.”
According to the OLTCA, 35,000 of Ontario’s 77,000 long-term care beds are in facilities that need to be rebuilt or modernized – including 900 in Waterloo-Wellington.
Lanark Heights isn’t considered in need of repair, which is good news for Kate Fewster, who has an aunt at the facility.
But Fewster’s mother resides in a long-term care home near Lake Nipissing, which the OLTCA says does need an upgrade.
Fewster agrees.
“The building … is very, very, very old. It’s very outdated,” she says.
“My mom could have a much better quality of life if the environment were different.”
Fewster’s mother, who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease, shares her bedroom with three other residents – something unheard of at newer facilities.
Chartier says it’s not just the bedrooms in need of improvement at older homes.
“They don’t have the comforts of a small, intimate dining room or spaces to interact and socialize,” she says.
According to the OLTCA, 93 per cent of seniors in long-term care hands have multiple chronic diseases, while the majority have Alzheimer’s or a related condition.
