Since there’s no room in the Inn.
My Elderly Aunt – in her 92nd year – admonishes me ‘not grow old’ since she has found it to be not so much fun.
I tell my Aunt that I will do what I can to avoid it and we laugh.
But what many of you may not be aware of is the fact that when you do grow old and sick – don’t count on Ms. Wynne or her Liberal Ontario Government to come to your rescue. Hence the ‘no room in the Inn comment. I guess they are just too busy jacking up Hydro Rates and building Windmills.
My Aunt was diagnosed many years ago with Alzheimer's disease but with modern drugs and although her short term memory is totally gone – she still recognizes and is able to communicate with my wife and me but that is all.
My Aunt lives in a Seniors’ Retirement Residence and for the privilege she pays nearly $6,000 per month.
About a year ago, it became obvious to us that her health needs were no longer being met by the Residence despite its horrendous cost so we placed her on the Province’s list for a Nursing Home via the Province’s Watch Dog - CCAC.
Nursing Homes not only are a third of the cost of a Retirement Residence they also are equipped with more staff and the ability to provide greater care to folks like my Aunt. The only problem, it is virtually impossible to gain admission to one.
In my Aunt’s case, in addition to her long time Alzheimer's diagnoses she has become so frail that she no longer participates in any of the the activities of life – she does not participate in any of the Home’s activities, she neither reads or watch television. She told me recently that she just “cannot understand what is being said”. This is partly due to her poor hearing and of course to her Alzheimer’s.
But dear Reader – if you can imagine – it gets worse.
For the last month or so my Aunt has even stopped eating or drinking for the most part. You could always count on Aunt Joyce to wolf down a dish of ice-cream but even that decadence has been lost to her.
And more recently my Aunt has been complaining of great discomfort and pain. This has been met by the staff and residence’s doctor more or less with indifference more out of not being able to do much for her than neglect.
Given this, my wife and I decided to have her admitted to a local hospital’s emergency ward this past Saturday to see what was going on.
The Parameds who came for her – made it clear that they thought my wife and I were wasting everyone’s time. I suspect they have heard the message from on high (i.e. Ms Wynne and company) ‘don’t clog the system with the elderly’. We met with a similar reaction from the Emergency personnel.
We told them that we really did not care what they thought – our Aunt was in great pain and discomfort and we wanted to know why.
We spend nearly 10 hours with her – through many tests and finally the results came in confirming that my Aunt was suffering from heart difficulties and was experiencing minor heart attacks.
Attitudes of the hospital staff changed for the better.
Her hospital doctor recommended that my Aunt be admitted to a Nursing Home ASAP and I told her that I would get on the phone this past Monday to let CCAC know about the deterioration in my Aunt’s health.
Monday came and I called – I advised the nice woman on call about my Aunt’s health deterioration and although she sympathized with me – she made if very clear that the dramatic deterioration in my Aunt’s health meant nothing insofar-as gaining access to a Nursing Home Bed.
Not only that, she advised me that my Aunt’s place on the Nursing Home Waiting list had actually gone down.
I was astounded to some extent albeit my wife Anne works in the Seniors’ Home Care Health field and the horror stories she tells me about the sad condition of our Province’s health care would truly frighten you even more than my Aunt’s case.
So thank you Ms. Wynne – the next time you hear her or one of her entourage brag about the great state of Ontario’s health care – think of my Aunt and 1,000s like her here in Ottawa who are so sick and suffering and yet shut out from proper care.
I don’t think it is too much of an exaggeration to say that our Provincial Liberal Government not only wants the elderly to die awaiting proper care – but is also actively helping that to come about sooner than necessary.
As I see it…
‘K.D. Galagher’
