What $1.1 billion could buy an ailing province
St. Catharines senior Marian Walsh found herself in the hospital on three separate occasions with a series of serious illnesses this past winter and spring.
Each time, the 81-year-old retired educator was promised by her local Community Care Access Centre (CCAC) that she would get home care as soon as she was discharged.
She’s a widow and lives alone. Each time, she could not care for herself without assistance.
But all she ended up getting from the Hamilton Niagara Haldimand Brant CCAC, and “begrudgingly,” was one-half hour of convalescent care a day five days a week — which she says was barely enough to make her breakfast, get her dressed and clean up the dishes.
She was also offered assistance with a bath every two weeks.
“They promise you the moon and then when you get home, nobody’s there,” she said, noting each time she came home it took four or five days for help to arrive.
She ended up getting through this challenging time by hiring her own help and virtually exhausting her private insurance benefits, including thousands of dollars of her savings and by relying on neighbours to pitch in.
“That’s not what I’m paying taxes for,” she said.
Walsh says when she hears about the $1.1 billion blown on cancelling two gas plants, it is “so unfair, it’s laughable.
“They are not thinking of the consequences or the people they are supposed to help,” she says.
While she wouldn’t comment on Walsh’s case directly, Barbara Busing, vice-president of clinical operations for the Hamilton Niagara Haldimand Brant CCAC, said via e-mail that their patients are “very much attended to” and that they’re available 12 hours a day, year-around to “make sure things go smoothly.”
She said patients receive care in their homes “according to their needs” and that they use an “internationally-recognized clinical protocol” to assess those needs.
Still, in my four months at Queen’s Park, I’ve regularly been amazed with the sheer gall of a government that has nickeled and dimed seniors and other vulnerable members of the population just on the health care file alone — even as it flushed that $1.1 billion down the drain.
It is beyond belief that the same government would even consider shutting down an entire rural hospital in Shelburne to save a mere $1.8 million or to suddenly cancel a much-needed hospital in Grimsby to save $137 million in this year’s budget.
Just this summer, the health ministry quietly and surreptitiously lowered the number of blood glucose monitoring strips Ontario’s 162,000 Type 2 diabetics are entitled to under OHIP — to save $15-25 million per year.
At the end of August, physiotherapy services provided to frail elderly in retirement and long-term care homes and in the community — simply to keep them mobile and active — were delisted from OHIP to save $67 million a year.
Considering this is a government that pledged to bring down wait times in many areas, it still takes on average 62 days to get an MRI in this province. At Sunnybrook hospital it takes a whopping 92 days.
Can you imagine how $1.1 billion would have helped?
“This really does make seniors’ blood boil,” says PC finance critic Vic Fedeli. “You can only imagine, for example, how many knee surgeries could be performed for $1.1 billion instead of just having it go up in smoke.”
Paul Bailey, president of the Police Pensioners Association of Ontario, says his 6,500 members have been very much impacted by cuts to physio and “poorly resourced” home care.
“They’re trying to find money for health care; I can appreciate that,” says the former York Region cop. “But when you squander money like in eHealth, Ornge, the gas plants ... had you managed those issues in an appropriate manner you’d have the money to adjust to some of these changes.”
Health Minister Deb Matthews insists that a 4% increase was given to the home and community care budget last year — or about $250 milllion — and about two-thirds of that went to home care.
She said the budget will jump by 6% this year because they’re “really seeing the results of investing in the community.” They’re also focussing on bringing down the average provincial wait times of 19 days for a personal support worker and four days to see a nurse.
But Nathalie Mehra, director of the Ontario Health Coalition, insists home care is “incredibly poorly organized.”
She says there are way too many levels of administration — in this case four — to support before a penny actually gets to direct care.
Matthews counters that they are looking throughout the health care system — including CCACs — on how to “streamline” the process.
“I always have an open mind to making changes that has the impact of getting more services to the frontline,” she adds. “That’s what drives us every day.”
Mehra says one of the most egregious cuts has been to OHIP-funded physiotherapy — particularly that provided on an out-patient basis at hospitals — forcing patients recovering from surgery outside of urban centres to drive long distances and pay hundreds of dollars out of pocket each week.
NDP health critic France Gelinas says the first place she would put some of the $1.1 billion is into that out-patient physiotherapy.
She says they’re finding that without access to out-patient physio in many community hospitals, one in four patients who get hip or knee surgeries “never walks again.”
Gelinas would also invest the money, if it were available, into home care.
“The $1.1 billion buys you a lot of $15-an-hour care from a personal support worker,” she says. “That’s a lot of home care.”
Mehra says there have been a huge series of cuts to rural services — with smaller rural hospitals that “save lives” being “under the most serious threat” they’ve ever faced.
She says it’s hard to hear Matthews talk about the need to “count pennies” in health when her government blew more than $1 billion on the gas plants.
But the health minister insists there’s “a lot happening” in rural Ontario including “transformative projects” that allow hospitals to teleconference with patients.
She would not comment on what $1.1 billion would buy, preferring to talk about all the money she’s saved when she “took on the” doctors and pharmacists.
“When I took on the pharmacies, that drug saving is $500 million each year ... standing up to the doctors during OMA negotiations is saving $400 million a year,” she says. “I’m putting that into home and community care because that’s where the need is the greatest.
“We’re making tough decisions and it’s rebalancing the system so seniors can get the proper care in their homes.”
What $1.1 billion could buy an ailing province | Toronto & GTA | News | Toronto Sun
Yeah, yeah they're "working on it". Home care is a joke, CCAC is another joke. When my mother was being sent home for palliative care CCAC informed me that the rental of a hospital bed would be covered but not the bed rails. Not the bed rails. Has anyone ever seen a hospital bed that didn't have bed rails?
It's all about saving a buck unless it's about pension plans or severance packages for those at the top.
This government has got to go!
St. Catharines senior Marian Walsh found herself in the hospital on three separate occasions with a series of serious illnesses this past winter and spring.
Each time, the 81-year-old retired educator was promised by her local Community Care Access Centre (CCAC) that she would get home care as soon as she was discharged.
She’s a widow and lives alone. Each time, she could not care for herself without assistance.
But all she ended up getting from the Hamilton Niagara Haldimand Brant CCAC, and “begrudgingly,” was one-half hour of convalescent care a day five days a week — which she says was barely enough to make her breakfast, get her dressed and clean up the dishes.
She was also offered assistance with a bath every two weeks.
“They promise you the moon and then when you get home, nobody’s there,” she said, noting each time she came home it took four or five days for help to arrive.
She ended up getting through this challenging time by hiring her own help and virtually exhausting her private insurance benefits, including thousands of dollars of her savings and by relying on neighbours to pitch in.
“That’s not what I’m paying taxes for,” she said.
Walsh says when she hears about the $1.1 billion blown on cancelling two gas plants, it is “so unfair, it’s laughable.
“They are not thinking of the consequences or the people they are supposed to help,” she says.
While she wouldn’t comment on Walsh’s case directly, Barbara Busing, vice-president of clinical operations for the Hamilton Niagara Haldimand Brant CCAC, said via e-mail that their patients are “very much attended to” and that they’re available 12 hours a day, year-around to “make sure things go smoothly.”
She said patients receive care in their homes “according to their needs” and that they use an “internationally-recognized clinical protocol” to assess those needs.
Still, in my four months at Queen’s Park, I’ve regularly been amazed with the sheer gall of a government that has nickeled and dimed seniors and other vulnerable members of the population just on the health care file alone — even as it flushed that $1.1 billion down the drain.
It is beyond belief that the same government would even consider shutting down an entire rural hospital in Shelburne to save a mere $1.8 million or to suddenly cancel a much-needed hospital in Grimsby to save $137 million in this year’s budget.
Just this summer, the health ministry quietly and surreptitiously lowered the number of blood glucose monitoring strips Ontario’s 162,000 Type 2 diabetics are entitled to under OHIP — to save $15-25 million per year.
At the end of August, physiotherapy services provided to frail elderly in retirement and long-term care homes and in the community — simply to keep them mobile and active — were delisted from OHIP to save $67 million a year.
Considering this is a government that pledged to bring down wait times in many areas, it still takes on average 62 days to get an MRI in this province. At Sunnybrook hospital it takes a whopping 92 days.
Can you imagine how $1.1 billion would have helped?
“This really does make seniors’ blood boil,” says PC finance critic Vic Fedeli. “You can only imagine, for example, how many knee surgeries could be performed for $1.1 billion instead of just having it go up in smoke.”
Paul Bailey, president of the Police Pensioners Association of Ontario, says his 6,500 members have been very much impacted by cuts to physio and “poorly resourced” home care.
“They’re trying to find money for health care; I can appreciate that,” says the former York Region cop. “But when you squander money like in eHealth, Ornge, the gas plants ... had you managed those issues in an appropriate manner you’d have the money to adjust to some of these changes.”
Health Minister Deb Matthews insists that a 4% increase was given to the home and community care budget last year — or about $250 milllion — and about two-thirds of that went to home care.
She said the budget will jump by 6% this year because they’re “really seeing the results of investing in the community.” They’re also focussing on bringing down the average provincial wait times of 19 days for a personal support worker and four days to see a nurse.
But Nathalie Mehra, director of the Ontario Health Coalition, insists home care is “incredibly poorly organized.”
She says there are way too many levels of administration — in this case four — to support before a penny actually gets to direct care.
Matthews counters that they are looking throughout the health care system — including CCACs — on how to “streamline” the process.
“I always have an open mind to making changes that has the impact of getting more services to the frontline,” she adds. “That’s what drives us every day.”
Mehra says one of the most egregious cuts has been to OHIP-funded physiotherapy — particularly that provided on an out-patient basis at hospitals — forcing patients recovering from surgery outside of urban centres to drive long distances and pay hundreds of dollars out of pocket each week.
NDP health critic France Gelinas says the first place she would put some of the $1.1 billion is into that out-patient physiotherapy.
She says they’re finding that without access to out-patient physio in many community hospitals, one in four patients who get hip or knee surgeries “never walks again.”
Gelinas would also invest the money, if it were available, into home care.
“The $1.1 billion buys you a lot of $15-an-hour care from a personal support worker,” she says. “That’s a lot of home care.”
Mehra says there have been a huge series of cuts to rural services — with smaller rural hospitals that “save lives” being “under the most serious threat” they’ve ever faced.
She says it’s hard to hear Matthews talk about the need to “count pennies” in health when her government blew more than $1 billion on the gas plants.
But the health minister insists there’s “a lot happening” in rural Ontario including “transformative projects” that allow hospitals to teleconference with patients.
She would not comment on what $1.1 billion would buy, preferring to talk about all the money she’s saved when she “took on the” doctors and pharmacists.
“When I took on the pharmacies, that drug saving is $500 million each year ... standing up to the doctors during OMA negotiations is saving $400 million a year,” she says. “I’m putting that into home and community care because that’s where the need is the greatest.
“We’re making tough decisions and it’s rebalancing the system so seniors can get the proper care in their homes.”
What $1.1 billion could buy an ailing province | Toronto & GTA | News | Toronto Sun
Yeah, yeah they're "working on it". Home care is a joke, CCAC is another joke. When my mother was being sent home for palliative care CCAC informed me that the rental of a hospital bed would be covered but not the bed rails. Not the bed rails. Has anyone ever seen a hospital bed that didn't have bed rails?
It's all about saving a buck unless it's about pension plans or severance packages for those at the top.
This government has got to go!
