York Region seniors to continue receiving on-site care: LHIN

Yorkregion.com
March 31, 2014
By Sean Pearce

Senior citizens and disabled persons receiving 24/7 on-site care at several social housing buildings around York Region will continue to do so, the Central Local Health Integration Network now says.

Seniors and people with disabilities who had previously received on-site service from personal support workers under the region’s Alternative Community Living program can expect to see the care continue beyond April 1, Central LHIN CEO Kim Baker said.

The faces of the people assisting them will likely be different starting Tuesday, as the personal support workers will be with new service providers Community and Home Assistance to Seniors (CHATS) and CareFirst Seniors, but the bottom line is on-site, around-the-clock care will remain in place for those who are receiving it, she said.

“Those seniors who were provided with on-site, 24/7 personal support workers can count on that continuing on April 1,” Ms Baker said. “We’re grandfatherthing in the clients who were served by Alternative Community Living.”

One-on-one meetings are in progress to develop each ACL client’s individual care plan, Ms Baker said, and both CHATS and CareFirst will be letting all of the seniors affected know that on-site care will continue as long as they need it.

With the transition from the ACL program to the new providers tomorrow, the focus is on informing all of those to be impacted about what is happening and to put any lingering fears and anxieties about the change to rest, she explained.

Some of the logistics, such as what sort of space the incoming PSWs from CHATS and CareFirst will have access to, has yet to be finalized, Ms Baker said, also noting that the on-site, 24/7 care will be paid for with existing funds. At the same time, a $5-million investment from the Central LHIN ensures 625 more seniors will get access to assisted living services no matter where they call home, she said.

“This is a good news story for the community,” she said. “There’s equitable access to services for seniors regardless of where they are living.”

The preservation of on-site care comes a week after the Central LHIN announced on-site care would continue, but only as a stop-gap measure lasting about one month. The finite continuation of the service was echoed by several other sources.

Last Wednesday, Health Minister Deb Matthews told Theresa Boyle of the Toronto Star that the supportive housing buildings around York to be impacted by the April 1 transition from ACL to CHATS and CareFirst would be spared a policy change that would have ended the 24/7 on-site care. Around-the-clock care will continue, she said, but will be delivered by the two new providers.

“Will residents still get that 24/7, on-site care? Yes, they will,” Ms Matthews told The Star. “If they got it before, they will still get it.”

The minister’s comments come a week after she pinned the planned end of on-site care on the regional government for not maintaining its 51-per-cent portion of the $7.3-million program, despite it being a provincial policy change in 2011 that rendered the region ineligible to receive LHIN funding for the remaining 49 per cent of the service.

“The Region of York could step in and cover the additional costs,” she told the York Region Media Group. “I would welcome them to do that.”

In her comments to Ms Boyle, Ms Matthews went on to accuse Progressive Conservative Newmarket-Aurora MPP Frank Klees of scaremongering on the issue.

Ms Matthews’ remarks to Ms Boyle came the same day that Mr. Klees grilled Premier Kathleen Wynne on the subject of 24/7 on-site care during question period. Mr. Klees did so while watched by dozens of concerned York seniors and people with disabilities along with their families, caregivers and supporters who had been brought to Queen’s Park thanks to a trip organized by the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 905.

Reached last Thursday, Mr. Klees categorized the about-face by the province as a “partial victory”, while pledging to remain vigilant on the matter. He said the decision to extend 24/7 on-site service demonstrates the government realized it had made a poor decision.

“I call this a step in the right direction, but we’re going to continue to monitor this,” Mr. Klees said. “We want to make sure this isn’t a play on the part of the government to get them past the next election and I will do my utmost to ensure that doesn’t happen.”

Rather than doing away with programs that provide 24/7 on-site care for seniors, the province should be looking at ways to expand them, Mr. Klees said. It’s all well and good that those who received ACL will be grandfathered under the new service, he said, but that doesn’t help people who may need similar help in the future.

For that reason, he’s eager to debate his motion May 8, which aims to preserve on-site, around-the-clock care and also to direct the Central LHIN to conduct an independent review on the subject of assisted living services for seniors.

He went on to say Newmarket Ward 3 Councillor Jane Twinney, who was recently named the PC candidate for the next provincial election, is equally engaged on the issue and ready to carry it forward in the event a spring campaign materializes and her bid for the seat is successful.

While she’s not an ACL client herself, Keswick Gardens resident Carol McMurray indicated she’s cautiously optimistic about the start of around-the-clock, on-site service under CHATS April 1.

Her 96-year-old mother, Mary Baker, has lived at the Keswick Gardens complex for 15 years, is an ACL client and it was for her sake Ms McMurray was especially fretful about the change-over.

“I certainly feel relief - guarded relief - but I’m not sure everyone here understands what’s happened and what’s going to happen,” she said.

It remains a mystery why the government was trying to fix something that wasn’t broken in the first place, Ms McMurray said. She went on to thank CUPE Local 905 for first putting the plight of the seniors on the radar and also extended her gratitude to Mr. Klees for taking their fight to the floor of the legislature.

“He was great,” she said. “I think the government realized that you can’t just do this to people and get away with it.”

The fight over assisted living began in January when seniors and disabled people living in several supportive housing buildings around the region learned they would be losing on-site care through the region’s ACL program effective April 1 and would instead be receiving care through a “hub-and-spoke” model where help outside of scheduled visits could be some 15 minutes away. Many of those poised to be impacted voiced concerns about the loss of 24/7 on-site PSWs owing to their various medical issues and most agreed 15 minutes was too long to wait if a senior needed help up from a fall or if someone required assistance going to the washroom.

Last week, Newmarket resident Robert Weidenfeld launched a $100-million lawsuit against the province and the region out of concern for the seniors and stated his intent to certify the action as a class action with any proceeds to be split amongst those receiving ACL. Mr. Weidenfeld had hoped to have his emergency motion heard in court on Tuesday, but the matter was put off until July 31.

The province has thus far declined to comment on the lawsuit, while York Region has said the action is devoid of merit, an abuse of the court process and stated its intent to pursue dismissal and a striking of the claim.

For his part, CUPE Local 905 president Doug Sheppard said he’s glad to hear seniors will have around-the-clock, on-site care come April 1, calling that the No. 1 priority all along, although his concern now is about the 90 PSWs employed by the region who stand to lose their jobs. The issue is that others will be coming in to do the work CUPE Local 905 members have for about two decades, he said, and suggested they will be doing so for much less money as well.

“We’re happy that the government did what we’ve been asking them to do and came through for the seniors,” Mr. Sheppard said. “Now we want to find out details about how this is all going to happen and time is short.”