Last week the BC Care Providers Association launched the #CareCanBeThere campaign and released a major 180 page report including 30 recommendations to strengthen seniors care in BC. There as been extensive province-wide interest in the recommendations including a significant response to our multi-media campaign. In only 7 days, the #CareCanBeThere video has already been seen by over 65,000 people on Facebook and YouTube. The BCCPA has also received a significant number of emails and phone calls from the public communicating their support for the plan.
In the Tri-City News, they recently published an editorial referencing the report and its recommendations. What follows is an excerpt:
We understand that there are only so many dollars to go around. We get that priorities have to be set and budgets adhered to. But the current elder care system seems to offer nothing but the bare minimum, with volunteer programs, stressed-out family members and paid private care expected to pick up the slack.
What’s innovative about the BCCPA approach is it doesn’t just talk about dollars. Many of the recommendations in the #CareCanBeThere “Strengthening Seniors: A Made-in-BC Roadmap” are about not just meeting urgent care needs but about improving quality of life.
For example, it recommends a Seniors Quality of Life Fund to pay for programs such as recreational therapy, music therapy and occupational therapy for those in residential care and receiving home care. This would be a blessing, for as anyone with a parent in the system knows, most government care is about meeting basic needs of toileting, bathing and https://bccare.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/medcare-img22.jpgistering medicine.
Making it a priority to provide emotional and physical supports to elders with chronic health needs would be a game-changer.
Also of note is the idea that residential care centres could be hubs delivering a wide variety of services so people don’t have to travel so far for programs, while a Care Credits program could provide families with choice in a caregiver, eliminating the stress involved in having a number of different caregivers handling a single person’s intimate tasks.
In the end, the goal should be not be to determine what can be done with less, but what would be the best for our elders, then work back from there. The BCCPA report goes a long way towards offering some innovative ideas.
If you are in support of #CareCanBeThere, be sure to watch and share our video as well as read Strengthening Seniors Care: A Made-in-BC Roadmap.
