When Canadians learned from the military in May about conditions in long-term care homes in Eastern Canada amid the COVID-19 crisis, our reaction was one of horror.
Those were stories we expect from other countries, ones without our medical system or social safety net. Suddenly we had to rethink that.
Closer to home, stories of family members involved in the earliest days of the Lynn Valley Care Centre outbreak should cause us to rethink the idea that significant problems don’t exist in B.C.’s long-term care system as well.
Lynn Valley had the bad luck to be the first care home hit by COVID-19. There were lessons learned there.
But along the way, vulnerable elderly were subjected to conditions they should not have been. What family members saw was not the “situation normal” described by health officials.
Families add lack of adequate care in seniors’ homes in general isn’t an isolated experience.
It’s important to hear their stories.
Nobody dreams of moving into a care home. When it happens, we want to know our elderly loved ones will be comfortable and have their needs taken care of.
But that’s not what happens at least some of the time, thanks to chronic understaffing.
Unless you have a family member in care, you’re unlikely to be exposed to this. The frail elderly are a group who can’t advocate for themselves.
That there are large gaps in seniors care is not new information, however.
B.C.’s Seniors Advocate has been pointing out the problems for years.
But a functioning care system costs a lot of money – a priority that competes with others for dollars.
Incrementally the system is improving, but those in care now, at the end of their lives, don’t have time to wait.
If the situation is to change, it’s incumbent on the public to pay attention and to advocate for change.
