Provincial Election - Seniors Key Messages
Ontario Community Support Association (OCSA) Key Messages
OCSA Home and Community Care:
- Support people in their efforts to stay healthy
- Successfully manage specific health issues and maintain quality of life by addressing issues that make up the social determinants of health
- Preventative health care with the main goal of keeping people out of hospitals and long-term care facilities
Issue Brief:
- Demographics, economics, and the fulfillment of our basic aspirations are poised to collide in a perfect health care storm
- Ontario has an aging population and budgetary pressures
o Over the next 15 years the “baby boom” generation will be all over the age of 65
§ This generation has grown up with quality health care and will have continued high expectations
- 1/5 of seniors utilizing hospital beds do not require that level of care and over 24,000 seniors are on waiting lists for long-term care beds even though many do not need daily medical care
- A high number of seniors are on waiting lists for home care and there are elderly people living in sub-standard facilities
- Ontarians from all backgrounds, from all parts of the province, and in all socio-economic circumstances share the same common hope – to retain a level of dignity and grace as we age
- Ontarians want to remain in their homes and in their communities where they have a greater level of comfort and independence and they can retain their dignity
- Our health care system is built on a 20th century model of institutional care: you become sick, you go to the hospital; you grow older, you go to a retirement home or long-term care facility
o This is perpetuating a cycle of poor health with little focus on prevention
o Deprives people of their independence while delivering devastatingly painful blows to personal dignity
o Entrenches socio-economic divisions – some move to luxury retirement homes, others wait for subsidized care or rely on busy, untrained family members
o Institutional care costs a lot of money which governments are not able or willing to afford
- Investing in home and community care frees up hospital beds, unclogs emergency waiting rooms, and reduces long-term care home waitlists
OCSA has identified five priorities for this campaign:
- More services like Meals on Wheels, transportation, adult day programs, respite, and supportive housing which support seniors and people with disabilities to live at home are a compassionate, cost-effective solution to our health care challenges
- Home care services should be provided by trained, accredited personal support workers
- No one should be denied access to home and community care because they cannot afford it
- Community programs that keep seniors engaged and active in their neighbourhoods are important elements of a serious health prevention strategy
- Home care services such as housekeeping and meal preparation are important, practical tools that keep people at home rather than in expensive institutions
