(Niagara At Large is posting the following media release from the office of Welland, Ontario Riding MPP Cindy Forster for your information.)
Queen’s Park – Newly elected MPP Cindy Forster used her first question in the Ontario Legislature to tell the government local seniors deserve better home care services.
Welland Riding MPP Cindy Forster. File photo by Doug Draper
“The Niagara peninsula has one of the largest concentrations of seniors in Ontario and Canada. Yet, the services that these seniors need to stay healthy in their homes are hard to access and are inconsistent in the Niagara peninsula and across the province,” said Forster, the NDP member for a Welland Riding constituency that includes Welland, Port Colborne, Wainfleet and and the south end of St. Catharines.
Yesterday, Port Colborne City Council unanimously passed a motion urging the provincial government to increase the funding for supportive home care for seniors. The council’s motion cited the cost effectiveness of home care, which often allows seniors to remain independent, and avoid costly hospitalisations.
Many of the affected seniors do not require around-the-clock medical care. Rather, they need help with daily tasks around the house, like laundry and housekeeping, combined with basic medical care.
However, as Forster noted, “those services have been seriously eroded over the last 20 years… During the election, the Ontario New Democrats recognized this and we developed a plan to provide seniors with the supportive services they need.”
“Will the minister work with us, the local municipalities, and health care groups, to develop a province-wide plan for supporting seniors in their homes?” asked Forster
Port Colborne City Council is sending information on the issue to the Association of Municipalities of Ontario in hopes of garnering further support from other municipalities.
(Niagara At Large invites you who dare to share your name with your views to comment to this post in the area we preserve for you below.)
Niagara At Large 
Home care? We in the Southern peninsula don’t even have hospital care!
LikeLike
Home care or any kind of care!! My father is parallyzed on one side, permanently in a wheelchair and cannot speak from a stroke. My mother his caregiver has terminal aggressive cancer and cannot take care of herself anymore. My father is allowed a few hours a week with homecare and my mother we were told one hour per week to see if she needed anything and basically it’s as if they are checking to see if she is still alive. I cannot be there 24/7 as I need to work and apparently they can take care of themselves as long as they say they can. Even if I were to stay through the night (toiletting him about 6 times a night because he gets up to pee) and then go to work, when would I sleep? at work? My mother is on moraphine and they are increasing the dosage regularly. She has anywhere from one week to a month to live and is basically bed ridden but the hospice care list is long and she may not outlive it we have been told. She requires oxygen but everyone says that someone else needs to initiate and order it and it would take a coupe weeks but she needs it now for ease of suffering. No organization between the branches of ccac can get together so that there are more hours of care jointly between the two of them. What are people supposed to do????? Who can you turn to for answers???? because each organization gives you a different answer and causes so much stress you just want to scream at the beaurcratic red tape. If they would just open their eyes they would see that these two people cannot be left alone for even a minute never mind all night or half a day or more. The family doctor has been great about house calls but all he can do is make reccommendations to ccac and they determine the services you get. Someone needs to figure this out before more families like mine are stressed beyond the emotional breaking point from dealing with red tape.
LikeLike