Money, time, stress affect seniors' care

BY WENDY ELLIOTT

Kings County Register

Kings County caregivers Brenda Griffin and Doris Davidson know from personal experience home supports for seniors can take a long time to materialize.

Getting expert help with a bath, for example, requires an eight-month waiting period.

The two co-facilitators of the Kings County Caregivers Association were pleased the NDP leader and health critic David Wilson listened to their concerns last week. “The issues in Halifax and the issues here are not the same,” said Griffin. “We appreciate the fact that he’d take the time to talk with caregivers and is willing to commit to returning.”

Griffin doesn’t understand why home supports vary, even between Kings and Annapolis counties. “The rules are different.”

Davidson says caregivers have very little time to try to access respite, and most can’t afford $29 an hour assistance. “We are very private people,” she added. Stress was alleviated for her by membership in the support group.

It helped me immensely. In fact, it’s a lifesaver.”

The two women say their group often hears from desperate family members seeking in-home care. “People have no money,” said Griffin.

Politicians, added Davidson, need to know there is some urgency out there. “We are the grassroots advocates around health care costs,” said Griffin. Education and information are the group’s other interests.

The association meets on the fourth Wednesday of every month at the New Minas Civic Centre from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Anyone wanting additional information may call 542-1503 or 678-4111.

NDP Leader Darrell Dexter was in New Minas recently to gauge reaction by caregivers to his party’s new Seniors Care Plan.

Dexter has been aiming at quick assistance for the approximately 1,400 seniors waiting for placement in a nursing home. He found out there are other needs after meeting with members of the Kings County Caregivers Association.

According to Dexter, creative solutions are needed to keep seniors and the disabled in their own homes. “We need a broad range of programs that are flexible enough for all needs. Caregivers need supports so they don’t burn out,” Dexter said, noting services vary considerably around the province. “

We might need more in-home respite than the alternative in nursing home beds. And, we need to remember that palliative care is exhausting and emotionally draining.”

The government, he said, continues to talk about the system, but “it’s a patchwork system that works in an ad hoc way. “There’s no strategy that’s been instituted to date.”

The NDP Seniors Care Plan focuses on supporting seniors and their family caregivers in the community, thus opening more hospital beds, reducing wait times for acute and long-term care. “The situation for seniors in Nova Scotia is worse today than when the Conservatives were elected in 1999,” said Dexter. “The reality is, there are a lot more people waiting for suitable placement - and at great personal cost to families and financial cost to the province.”

Elements of the NDP Seniors Care Plan include a frail seniors’ assistance plan, a self-managed care allowance for seniors, assisted living allowance for seniors at risk, seniors’ home adaptation funding and a personal alert assistance program.

The province has promised to create about 150 new long-term care beds by spring, and plans a total of 1,500 by 2015.