A Reader's Response
to Policy Options Politiques, Institute for Research on Public Policy
to Policy Options Politiques, Institute for Research on Public Policy
Dear Editor:
This article brought a refreshing perspective into the ongoing conversation about Long Term Care, and it is one that is critically important and very welcome.
It is so essential that we re-conceptualize the ways in which we support our elderly, and commit to dignified alternatives rather than remain mired in the current practice of institutionalizing people simply because their support needs have increased.
If the tragedy that has impacted Long Term Care facilities over the last few months does not convince people that the system must change dramatically, then it is hard to imagine what will. Yet once again, we see arguments put forward to invest more funding into an untenable system.
Doris Greenspan, of the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario (RNAO) is quoted in a recent Toronto Star article (June 28/20 The Fatal Blow, by Moira Walsh) as saying that she doesn't think we need to study this again, but speaks in support of suggesting that $1.75 billion should be poured into fixing what many of us know to be an unfixable situation. Institutions are harmful in and of themselves. Years of evidence backs this up, and have been the impetus for closing institutions for others over many years. These large LTC facilities are not homes. They are institutions. By their very nature, they cannot meet the real human needs of the very people they purportedly claim to care for.
When will we listen to the very people whose lives are at the centre of the practice of responding to their increased care needs by placing them in an institution? We've all heard them, so many time over the years....."Please don't put me in a nursing home" and "I want to stay in my own home". What will it take to respectfully hear those voices, and make the necessary changes to enable them to be honoured?
It is necessary to examine the practice of institutionalizing our elderly, not just what happens to them once placed in those settings.
Doris Greenspan is dead wrong in saying that we don't need to study this system once again. So dead wrong, that thousands of our elderly have indeed died as a result of our collective failure to completely redevelop our approach to meeting their needs to date.
We definitely do need to examine this in an in-depth way, with new perspectives at the table, not those who have perpetuated the myth that these archaic institutions are an appropriate response to the needs of our elderly. In doing so, we need voices like Rudy Friesen's, and we most definitely need to ensure that the voices of our elderly lead and guide that process, so that we can invest in supportive responses to enable people to remain in their own homes, or small home-like settings in their communities, just as they have always told us they want.
Linda Till
Sharon, Ontario
This article brought a refreshing perspective into the ongoing conversation about Long Term Care, and it is one that is critically important and very welcome.
It is so essential that we re-conceptualize the ways in which we support our elderly, and commit to dignified alternatives rather than remain mired in the current practice of institutionalizing people simply because their support needs have increased.
If the tragedy that has impacted Long Term Care facilities over the last few months does not convince people that the system must change dramatically, then it is hard to imagine what will. Yet once again, we see arguments put forward to invest more funding into an untenable system.
Doris Greenspan, of the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario (RNAO) is quoted in a recent Toronto Star article (June 28/20 The Fatal Blow, by Moira Walsh) as saying that she doesn't think we need to study this again, but speaks in support of suggesting that $1.75 billion should be poured into fixing what many of us know to be an unfixable situation. Institutions are harmful in and of themselves. Years of evidence backs this up, and have been the impetus for closing institutions for others over many years. These large LTC facilities are not homes. They are institutions. By their very nature, they cannot meet the real human needs of the very people they purportedly claim to care for.
When will we listen to the very people whose lives are at the centre of the practice of responding to their increased care needs by placing them in an institution? We've all heard them, so many time over the years....."Please don't put me in a nursing home" and "I want to stay in my own home". What will it take to respectfully hear those voices, and make the necessary changes to enable them to be honoured?
It is necessary to examine the practice of institutionalizing our elderly, not just what happens to them once placed in those settings.
Doris Greenspan is dead wrong in saying that we don't need to study this system once again. So dead wrong, that thousands of our elderly have indeed died as a result of our collective failure to completely redevelop our approach to meeting their needs to date.
We definitely do need to examine this in an in-depth way, with new perspectives at the table, not those who have perpetuated the myth that these archaic institutions are an appropriate response to the needs of our elderly. In doing so, we need voices like Rudy Friesen's, and we most definitely need to ensure that the voices of our elderly lead and guide that process, so that we can invest in supportive responses to enable people to remain in their own homes, or small home-like settings in their communities, just as they have always told us they want.
Linda Till
Sharon, Ontario
Linda Till is a Social Policy Advisor with Seniors for Social Action Ontario, and has an extensive advocacy history on behalf of children and adults with significant challenges related to disability and medical complexity. She was instrumental in achieving the deinstitutionalization of all Children from Nursing Homes in Ontario. She has been a member of several Ministerial and InterMinisterial committees, most recently being appointed to the Ministry of Health Advisory Group for People with Complex Needs in Community Care Access Centres (2016-17). She is a past Policy Advisor with Community Living Ontario and a Co-Founder of the Family Alliance Ontario.
