This week the national radio program Charles Adler Tonight has done a series of interviews with experts on the state of long-term care in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. During Tuesday night’s show Adler engaged with BCCPA CEO Daniel Fontaine, where they delved into why British Columbia is faring better in managing this public health crisis than many other jurisdictions.
Fontaine pointed out that only 0.3 per cent of all care workers and 0.6 per cent of seniors living in long-term care or assisted living residences in B.C. contracted COVID-19. Unlike Ontario and Quebec, where outdated buildings with four-bed wards are more common, B.C. invested significantly in building new long-term care and assisted living homes. Infections spread more rapidly in older facilities, making it harder to protect vulnerable seniors, especially during a pandemic.
“One of the outcomes of this pandemic, I’m hoping, will be a continued interest in long-term care and how critical it is if we want to protect our seniors we make those investments,” Fontaine said.
He also addressed immigration reform and recommendations made by the Association, which would allow thousands of Canadian-trained care aides to work in our health care system immediately. He highlighted the need to reduce tuition and other costs to make training more accessible for care aides.
“If we truly see these people as essential workers, we value our seniors, we value what they contributed to our country, then we should make those investments,” Fontaine said.
Following Daniel Fontaine, Dr. Jennifer Baumbusch, Associate Professor at UBC Nursing, appeared on the show to talk about the role of nurses in seniors’ care and the importance of investing in new infrastructure and ensuring minimum staffing levels in care homes across the country.
Baumbusch spoke to the lack of discourse around seniors’ care issues and how ageism contributes to it. It is challenging to engage people in discussions on funding and policy because they don’t see long-term care as a reality for themselves.
“If we cannot envision that (long-term care) as a future for ourselves, we’re not going to ask our government to invest in it,” Baumbusch said.
Listen to the interview below.
On May 11th, Dr. Roger Wong spoke to Charles Adler about how we can support seniors living in long-term care homes during the pandemic. Dr. Wong is the Executive Associate Dean (Education), UBC Faculty of Medicine, and Clinical Professor of Geriatric Medicine.
Listen below.
