Our family is in the familiar situation of having to provide care for our aged parents.
My 87-year-old father needs round-the-clock care. He has an adequate pension, but unfortunately complex care has been priced out of his range - the cost of a bed in private facility is $5,000 to $6,000 per month, plus HST. Although he qualifies for government assistance to cover the shortfall of $3,000, we have a scarcity of "government" beds in our community.
Apparently we have a number of open private beds - that is because no one can afford them.
Although the Vancouver Island Health Authority has implemented maximum support in the home (four hours), we must still augment care with a private nursing company.
We have been advised to take our father to the emergency department in Nanaimo to wait in the hospital. Elderly people at the end of life do not need to occupy acute-care hospital beds - they are for the sick, not the old, but apparently this is one way to fast-track into a community bed.
The government should implement rate control in long-term care, perhaps a reasonable rate of $2,500 a month.
To add insult to injury, charging HST on home services is despicable. My parents have paid taxes all their lives - the province should at the least not apply taxes to home-care services.
Rae Ramsden
Parksville
