The B.C. Care Providers Association is calling on the province to invest more than $1.6 billion over five years in seniors care, saying we’re unprepared to support aging baby boomers.
CEO Daniel Fontaine said the needs of seniors have changed dramatically over recent generations. People are living longer, getting more care at home and entering care facilities later. At the same time, pressures on the “sandwich generation,” which is supporting children and aging parents, are increasing.
“Some people have called it the silver tsunami,” Fontaine said. “But what’s happening is more like a rising tide. The water has slowly been climbing around us to the point where it’s reached our ankles, our chests and is now close to the nose. I think we’re unprepared.”
The association released 30 recommendations for enhancing seniors care in its report, Strengthening Seniors Care: A Made-in-B.C. Roadmap, including annual investments of about $337 million. Recommendations are based on feedback collected over the past year. They include:
• Set as a minimum 3.36 direct-care hours per day, per senior in publicly funded care homes
• Increase the minimum home-care visit to 30 minutes from 15 minutes
• Establish care hubs with a focus on rural B.C. to better allow people to age in place
• Spend up to $100 per month for every senior in publicly funded residential care to improve nutritional choice and life-enhancing therapies
• Target up to $100 million to replace and refurbish older care homes
• Spend up to $20 million to repurpose unused care beds
• Invest up to $5 million per year to recruit, train and retain workers
The association is also recommending the Ministry of Health set a target that by 2021, no more than five per cent of all acute-care beds be occupied by a senior awaiting care. Currently, about 13 per cent of hospital beds, which can cost up to $1,800 per day, are used by patients waiting for discharge to another level of care, the association said.
Fontaine said that 20 to 30 years ago, the average person entering care was in their mid-70s, had fewer chronic health conditions and was less likely to have dementia or Alzheimer’s disease.
Now, the average age is 88.
“Their needs are much more critical and the models of care we’ve got are still based on an older thought process that people would drive to their care home and unpack their bags. We just don’t have that anymore,” he said. “We’re living longer and the needs are different. … The system has to catch up with that and innovate.”
The association’s members care for more than 16,000 seniors annually in residential care and assisted living, plus more than 11,000 through home care and home-support services.
B.C. seniors advocate Isobel Mackenzie said there is a need to improve direct-care hours, especially for those treated at home.
“We are monitoring the hours and it’s showing we decreased the hours of home support when we should be increasing them, never mind keeping pace with growth and the shift from facility to home-care placement. More resources need to go into home care,’ Mackenzie said.
Only 15 per cent of people over 85 live in a care home and the vast majority of seniors will never enter a facility, she said. About half of those receiving home support would qualify for residential care and those who do enter a facility remain there for less time, all of which lessens overall costs, she said.
Mackenzie called for more flexibility in home support, including adult day programs and respite beds, which would reduce stress on families.
“These caregivers are being counted on to deliver a significant amount of the supports. … [Many] are not just stressed, they’re in distress,” she said. “If you can relieve that caregiver some of those hours, you can reduce the distress significantly.”
