Central LHIN extends provision of on-site care in seniors apartment buildings
YorkRegion.com
March 20, 2014
By Sean Pearce
Some of York Region’s most vulnerable citizens will continue to get the care they are used to after the Central Local Health Integration Network decided to extend its provision of on-site service at several senior citizens apartments for a limited time.
Community and Home Assistance To Seniors and CareFirst will begin offering off-site service April 1. That service was meant to replace the region’s Alternative Community Living on-site program, but the LHIN decided to extend the latter Tuesday night.
In recent months, many seniors living at the residences that will be affected by the looming transition from the on-site ACL program to the CHATS and CareFirst hub-and-spoke service model have voiced concerns about what the change will mean for the quality of their lives.
The have specifically targeted the potential impacts of going from a service where clients have nearly immediate access to a personal support worker should they need help up from a fall or assistance using the washroom, to a system in which help could be up to 15 minutes away.
The province’s new assisted living for high-risk seniors policy will improve care for York’s seniors through a $5-million investment by the Central LHIN, Health Minister Deb Matthews argued in an interview Tuesday, noting more people will be eligible for care, regardless of where they live, thanks to the establishment of 625 more assisted-living spaces.
While opponents assert the upcoming change is a service reduction, Central LHIN spokesperson Crystal Moss said seniors with ACL will receive the same level of service or better, based upon one-on-one client assessments.
“It’s a response time change,” Ms Moss said. “We’re not taking services away. Going back to the good news, on-site care will be continuing.”
The on-site presence of CHATS and CareFirst PSWs will be maintained for about a month to help ease the transition, Ms Moss said, but she didn’t offer a precise timeline.
The extension will be funded solely by the Central LHIN, she explained.
Ms Matthews pointed the finger at York Region for not maintaining its 51-per-cent portion of the $7.3-million program, even though it was a provincial policy change in 2011 that rendered the region ineligible to receive LHIN funding for the remaining 49 per cent of the service costs.
The region could cover the additional costs, Ms Matthews said, noting she would welcome that.
The region is no longer eligible for funding to provide care to the 27 or so high-risk clients under the new policy, Ms Moss said, but could still have received money to serve the 167 low-risk ACL clients.
That’s news to York community and health services commissioner Adelina Urbanski.
The province informed the region and other providers funded via the Central LHIN they were no longer eligible to deliver the service to high-risk seniors, she said, adding there was never any mention in writing or otherwise of funds being available to assist low-risk seniors.
As to Ms Matthews’ suggestion about the region stepping in to pay for the service itself, Ms Urbanski said it’s unclear how that would work and predicted it would be very costly without help from the province.
“I’m not sure how we would do that,” she said, especially when the plans to transition to the new service are in place and the funding has gone with them. “Essentially, we’d have to entirely fund or subsidize a provincial program.”
While she finds some of Ms Matthews’ and Ms Moss’ comments odd, Ms Urbanski was quick to say CHATS is a great provider that has been serving seniors for many years. She hopes once the transition occurs, the fears expressed will gradually be allayed.
“Everyone involved with this wants the best for the clients,” she said. “Care will continue to be provided for people. It just won’t be provided by us.”
The region has operated its ACL program for about 20 years and maintains offices at the Keswick Gardens seniors apartment in Georgina, Heritage East and Armitage Gardens in Newmarket, Hadley Grange in Aurora, Cedar Crest Manor in Markham, Genesis Place in Richmond Hill and Kitchen-Breedon Manor in Schomberg.
Under the new policy, many seniors will be served by CHATS, which plans to operate offices in Keswick, Newmarket, Richmond Hill and likely Schomberg. The organization vows help will be available 24/7 and will never be more than 15 minutes away.
A meeting at the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 905 hall in Newmarket Saturday drew about 200 ACL clients and family members, who re-iterated 15 minutes is too long for a senior to wait if they slip and fall or need help using the toilet.
“The level of services is going to be reduced,” CUPE Local 905 president Doug Sheppard said. “The LHINs and CHATS are saying there will be no change, but that’s just not true.”
In any event, Ms Matthews’ comments to yorkregion.com bore similarities to ones she made in the provincial legislature during question period Tuesday morning, which prompted Progressive Conservative Newmarket-Aurora MPP Frank Klees to accuse her of misleading the public.
“For her to say the reason on-site care is being cut is because of the region is an attempt on her part to mislead you and I,” Mr. Klees said. “I will not stand for it.”
Mr. Klees said he had spoken to Ms Matthews, who told him of the decision to extend on-site care for a non-specific period of time.
That’s encouraging, but what the government is doing to seniors impacted by the looming change is unacceptable, he said, explaining he has tabled a motion in the house to be debated May 8 that will, if passed, preserve 24/7 on-site care and direct the Central LHIN to review the financial and human impacts of the service change.
“I’m convinced when all of the facts are known, the choice will be very clear and that’s to maintain 24/7 care in these buildings,” he said.
In any event, several seniors and union members are hoping to take their concerns to Queen’s Park March 26.
CUPE 905 has also launched an online petition on change.org that can be accessed at chn.ge/1ePLWOm
