By paNOW

Long-term care advocate not happy with throne speech

Oct 24, 2013 | 1:15 AM

The provincial government says its throne speech reflects what the people of Saskatchewan need, but one Regina woman doesn’t think that’s the case.

Carrie Klassen is becoming something of a regular at the legislature — the NDP invited her there earlier this year after she raised concerns about the level of staffing in seniors’ homes. Her mother suffered a brain aneurysm in 2010. Klassen said the staff levels in the home she was originally put in were so low that she had to quit her job and spend five to six hours a day looking after her mother because she was afraid of what might happen if she wasn’t there.

Klassen was back at the legislature on Wednesday for the throne speech. While she was glad senior care was mentioned, she feels the government’s plan to make home inspection records public and implement a house call system for doctors and nurses doesn’t address the real problem.

“They have to increase the staffing ratios,” she insisted. “Where’s that commitment? When are we going to see that?”

After Klassen originally appeared at the legislature others came forward to express the same concerns. The health minister asked CEOs of health regions to tour the homes in their regions to see what conditions are like. The ensuing report confirmed many of the complaints that had already been raised. The response was to create a $10 million “action fund” for homes to purchase equipment, provide more baths, provide better nutrition, better training, and ensure employees respond to call bells faster.

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But Klassen doesn’t think that will get to the root cause of the problem. She doesn’t understand why the government isn’t looking at mandated staffing levels to ensure there are enough people working to give proper care.

“My question to them is, ‘How would you like to watch your mother or father or grandparent be really upset or not getting the proper care? How would that make you feel if someone said to you it’s just a process and it takes time for change?’”

Health minister Dustin Duncan rejected the premise that it’s a universal problem.

“I don’t think it’s just a blanket statement to say that every facility is suffering from a lack of staffing.”

He reiterated that the province is acting on a larger scale to reduce the number of seniors going into care homes, pointing to other steps the province has taken. Those include home care pilot programs and a $2 million investment in the Home First/Quick Response program, which is meant to help cut down the number of hospital admissions for seniors and help them stay at home longer to reduce how many people are entering long-term care.

Klassen says good intentions will only go so far; in the meantime people’s lives are being shattered.

“I sit there and watch my mother and other residents suffer in these homes where they’re not being properly cared for.”

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