BCCPA CEO Daniel Fontaine was featured on the opinion page of Vancouver Sun last Friday regarding the need for new investments in seniors care in BC. Here are some excerpts below. Read the full column here.
“In Robert Frost’s poem, “A Road Not Taken,” a traveller converges on two diverging roads in the woods. Unable to travel both, the protagonist takes one path, but comes to question the choice later in the journey. The road not taken is a symbol of a larger dilemma many of us face when having to make difficult decisions. It’s also the dilemma governments must face when trying to balance competing interests…
…While the costs of these short-term initiatives are significant — about $337 million in the first year — it’s an investment commensurate with what B.C.’s elderly population have given to build our province. As outlined in the paper, some of the cost efficiencies could be obtained by redirecting funds from existing health authority acute-care budgets to home and community care.
With mere months until the next provincial election, voters will soon be deciding who will lead our province for the next four years. A wide range of social issues are all competing for parts of the province’s budget surplus. With a rapidly aging population, it’s important that B.C.’s seniors and the families that support them also benefit.
At this time in our history B.C. is at a pivotal point. Like the traveller in Frost’s poem, we have two choices — invest now in seniors care or continue with the status quo.
Our view is clear — we must invest now in seniors to improve their quality of care and to help sustain the continuing-care sector. We hope to look back in the not-too-distant future and say to ourselves that the right path was chosen when vital new investments and innovations in seniors care were made.”
#CareCanBeThere By the Numbers
In the first six days after the #CareCanBeThere launched…see what happened
- Over 10,000+ views of our YouTube video
- Over 37,000+ video views on Facebook
- Record web traffic on www.bccare.ca
- Every major TV network in BC covered the story – Global TV, CTV, CBC TV, CityTV
- Significant media coverage in both rural BC and ethnic media
See a wrap up of media coverage on the campaign launch here.
