Aging - not for the faint of heart

By Rita Button

“No one should have to grow old in poverty, insecurity and isolation,” said the Honourable Irene Mathyssen, MP and seniors critic for the federal NDP, at the New Horizons Society in James Bay on February 12. She and the Honourable Murray Rankin, MP for Victoria, hosted a presentation focusing on elder care in Canada. Being old myself, I was surprised at, but appreciative of her next sentence: “Old people are owed a debt of gratitude, for they have made Canada what it is today.” I have never thought of myself in that way; it was more my parents whom I saw as having changed Canada in their industrious working of the land.

Looking at the world with more experienced eyes, I see, of course, that my parents’ contribution was more than creating a sustainable farm; it was also in raising all of us who are able to contribute to the well-being of others and ourselves. That’s the Canadian way.

Or at least that’s what we think is the Canadian Way. 

Mathyssen and Rankin are lobbying for a Canadian policy that will support the elderly. To that end, they are introducing Bill 529 which sets out a national aging strategy. Part of the problem is money, many do not have enough to retire. Mathyssen stated, “If we added a billion dollars to the CPP, all seniors would be able to live in relative comfort and security.” While that seems like a lot of money, Mathyssen put it into perspective: oil and gas companies receive 34 billion dollars from the federal government in forgiven taxes. The cost of raising that money would be the price of a coffee and a doughnut a day for each working person. March 7^th’s  Globe and Mail’s editorial concurred: the premise that CPP is working well, but requires a little more money, was discussed as part of the solution to aging with minimal financial worries.

30% of us have private pension funds. Others depend on the Canada Pension Plan and Old Age Security. 59% of us have to get a part- time job to make ends meet. Too many have to sell their homes, the places where they’ve felt secure and happy.  We can no longer afford the roof repairs, the electrical updates, or paint to protect the exterior. Housing and health influence what happens to people more dramatically after they have reached their 80 birthday and beyond.

Having a place to live is basic. Living at home is not only the most comfortable but also the most economical for everyone. Many seniors need a little help to stay in their homes, but Rankin and Mathyssen suggest that providing affordable assistance for seniors in their familiar spaces would add happiness to their lives. Training people as caregivers for seniors who live in their own homes would be an effective way of maintaining a certain quality of life as we age. 

Murray Rankin and Irene Mathyysen suggest that seniors should be able to access home and community care and these, they propose, should be recognized as essential medical services. 

30% of seniors who are in a hospital stay beyond the requisite healing time because there is no place for them to go. While they no longer require the daily services of professional medical staff, they might require supervision, medicines measured out, dressings changed etc. while they recover from the initial episode. Consequently, they stay in beds that cost $1000./day, an unnecessary and expensive drain on the hospitals, and, therefore, also the province’s budget. Being able to return home with an implementable care plan appropriate for the individual would ensure a more efficient and effective re-integration into the familiar neighbourhood. Quality of life would improve.

Prescriptions, too, can be a problem. Some seniors take only half the prescribed medication to make it last twice as long, that’s what they can afford. Getting well or being well, under these circumstances becomes almost impossible. Some provinces have put together a plan to cover prescription drugs. 

Part of the solution, Rankin asserts, is for the federal government to apply the Canada Health Act, enacted in April, 1984. Although I was unable to confirm that he was talking about accountability, it is one of the tenets of the Act. If the money were transferred with the understanding that provinces and territories would be required to show what the money created, efficiencies might be the result.

Both Rankin and Mathyssen insist that federal leadership is required to help senior Canadians secure the best health care possible. Medical practitioners and researchers have found new reforms which would result in better care for patients and better value for the money spent. The federal government could take the lead in making these ideas the policy and process for all. For example, the number of people suffering from dementia is expected to double in a generation. Canada is the only G-9 country without a strategy to deal with this.  

Both emphasized the need for federal leadership, an increase in budget and a human approach to the vagaries of aging. The result, they suggested, is that we could be more at peace with what might happen to us tomorrow. 

A long time ago, I used to worry that I might become an old woman eating cat food for Christmas dinner as portrayed in one of the newspapers I read. While I no longer have that worry, I hope that we can find the way to help each other to a dignified, respectful, happy life—no matter what the age. That should be the Canadian Way.