"Long Term Care Insurance can cover the costs of Assisted Living, Homecare or a Nursing Home; plan for the future"
|
Archive for the ‘Elder Care’ Category
Monday, September 28th, 2009
Right now, 4 million Canadians are over the age of 65. By 2026, that number will double to 8 million Canadians. The aging population will doubtless take a costly economic toll on individuals, families, and the nation as a whole. Exactly what costs are associated with getting older in Canada, and what should aging baby boomers do to slow that cost?
Plan Ahead
The retirement years are another phase of life, just like entering university or taking that first step into one’s career. And just like entering the job market for the first time required preparation and planning well in advance, our senior years also require good advanced planning. Planning out the costs of your retirement should start five or even ten years in advance.
As a rule of thumb, expect to need about 70% of your pre-retirement income in your retirement years. In New Brunswick, one senior offers the advice to try to live on that 70% of your income now, before you are retired, just to get a feeling for what it will be like to live without that extra 30%.
Going into retirement debt-free is also a very good idea. This may require some creative living in the years before retirement, as those in their forties and fifties may need to downsize in order to achieve the goal of being debt-free by 65.
Canada Pension and Old Age Security
At the age of 65, Canadians can receive a maximum of $844.58 per month from the Canada Pension (CPP). You can access your CPP before the age of 65, but you should be aware that it is taxable.
Old Age Security (OAS) also activates at 65. The standard Old Age pension is $484.63, but low-income pensioners can also apply to receive additional help.
Economic Help for Seniors in British Columbia
Each province also has its own programs to help seniors afford to enjoy a high standard of living even as their yearly income decreases. In British Columbia, these include:
- Shelter Aid for Elderly Renters (SAFER) helps low to moderate income seniors continue to afford their rent.
Sales Tax Credit, which seniors can apply for to save money each year on their taxes.
The CareCard for Seniors entitles seniors to save on prescriptions and other medical expenses.
Anyone who receives Income Assistance in BC, including seniors who receive the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS), are eligible to receive a bus pass that costs only $45 for the entire year.
Thanks to programs like this in British Columbia and throughout Canada, seniors can retire with a measure of confidence that they will be able to afford those “golden years”.
Tags: aging trends, care costs British Columbia, care costs New brunswick, caregiving, caregiving strategies, Elder Care, long term care
Posted in Care Costs, Care Giving Strategies, Elder Care, Long Term Care | No Comments »
Monday, September 28th, 2009
There has been much talk in the United States, Mexico, and Canada about the swine flu – this year’s virulent flu strain that has already caused deaths throughout North America. Expected to become a pandemic, nations from China to Canada have been stocking up on this year’s flu vaccine.
Doctors warn that those most at risk are the very young and the very old. What does this mean for elders living in long term care facilities in Canada? With many fragile elders living in one place, nursing homes and other long term care facilities can easily turn into a hotbed of flu development.
In Toronto, concerns over a recent unpublished paper have health officials scratching their heads over the best way to care for those seniors living in long term care facilities. The paper suggested that the regular, seasonal flu shot may actually increase the risk of catching the swine flu.
In the Toronto area, people over the age of 65 have thus far been spared from swine flu, but historically they are much more at risk and face more serious consequences from run-of-the-mill seasonal flus. For this reason, says Dr. Arlene King, who is the chief medical officer of health in Ontario, seniors will be the only ones to receive the seasonal flu shots until November. This includes seniors living in long term care facilities in Toronto and elsewhere in Ontario.
Infection Control and Prevention
The Public Health Agency of Canada produced a fact sheet late in the summer of 2009 to stop the spread of swine flu and other flu strains in long term care facilities in Canada. The stated goal of the agency is to “keep the [long term care] facility (or major areas of the facility) completely free of the influenza virus in the first place.”
To this end, the agency has recommended certain measures to prevent the spread of the disease in long term care facilities. Some of these measures include:
- Source control: Preventing visits from relatives or friends who show symptoms of flu and using partitions to create distance between residents.
- Screening for flu: Actively screening family members and other visitors for the disease if swine flu has become prevalent in a community; encouraging staff members to self-screen for flu symptoms; and increased screening of residents for any flu-like symptoms.
- Hand and respiratory hygiene: Encouraging visitors, staff members, and residents to practice common sense hand washing and cough covering.
- Isolating sick residents: Should any resident show flu symptoms, they are immediately confined to his/her bed or room, and for residents who share a room, privacy curtains will be drawn and a minimum of two metres will be kept between the sick resident and the healthy roommate.
Thanks to these proactive steps being taken in Ontario and by the Public Health Agency of Canada, preventing a major flu outbreak inside long term care facilities this winter should be avoidable.
Tags: long term care Toronto Ontario, Swine Flu Ontario
Posted in Care Giving Strategies, Elder Care, Long Term Care | No Comments »
Monday, September 28th, 2009
Alzheimer’s Care in Nova Scotia
Helena “Heli” Munroe earned her Ph.D. in cognitive psychology, with her specialty in Alzheimer’s disease. But this didn’t protect Dr. Munroe from succumbing to Alzheimer’s herself. Originally from the UK, Heli Munroe and her husband Alasdair lived in Nova Scotia. As her descent into Alzheimer’s began, the two lived near Fisherman’s Memorial Hospital, where she received most of her therapy.
But in 2005, something quite unusual happened. Dr. Munroe was taken by her brother to England, because he claimed that she was very unhappy in Nova Scotia. Her husband was shocked by his brother-in-law’s action, and accused him of kidnapping his wife. Mr. Munroe was even more shocked when he realized he did not have legal guardianship over the woman whose rapid cognitive decline was made it impossible to make clear her own wishes about where she wanted to live and with whom.
While for Mr. Munroe the action was kidnapping, for Heli’s family it was rescuing. The family accused Alasdair Munroe of domestic abuse, which he vehemently denied. Some nurses who worked with Heli Munroe did suggest that Mr. Munroe’s behavior was sometimes concerning, and even more concerning was the couple’s estranged son living in a remote area of British Columbia, who claimed he had seen his father choking his mother before. But friends of the family – including Heli Munroe’s doctors – supported Munroe’s rebuttal of the accusations.
Meanwhile, Heli Munroe could not speak for herself.
Finally, in the fall of 2009, Heli Munroe’s ashes returned to her husband in Nova Scotia. Over the summer, Dr. Heli Munroe had slipped into a coma and died of Alzheimer’s. Just as he had fought for the return of his wife, he also fought to have her ashes returned. This battle, he won. But it is a bittersweet victory.
Who Can Make Decisions About Alzheimer’s Care?
The family feud over Heli Munroe underscored a need for clearer laws regarding care for those with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia, both in Nova Scotia and throughout Canada. Specifically, does the spouse or the family speak for the individual with Alzheimer’s by default?
For more information regarding care for elders with Alzheimer’s in Nova Scotia, a good place to start is the Alzheimer Society of Nova Scotia. An advocacy and support group for people with Alzheimer’s and their family, their website makes it easy to find resources on the latest research on Alzheimer’s disease, as well as links to services for people living with Alzheimer’s in Nova Scotia.
Tags: Alzheimer's Care Nova Scotia, caregiving strategies, long term care
Posted in Alzheimer's Care, Care Giving Strategies, Elder Care, Long Term Care | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009
As we know, the Canadian population is aging quite rapidly. By 2020, one out of every five people in most provinces will be above the age of 65. Compare that figure to today’s, in which close to one out of ten people are seniors. Furthermore, not only will their be more senior citizens in Canada, they will be older than ever before. Because life expectancy is increasing, the proportion of older seniors (80 years and older) will more than triple by 2056 from one in thirty to one in ten.
Who will take care of all these aging baby boomers? In some cases, seniors will move to long term care facilities. In other cases, they will stay in their homes for quite some time, getting help from a home health provider or similar service. But for most Canadians, the tradition of children looking after their aging parents remains the most likely option for these seniors.
Who are Canada’s Caregivers?
Over 2.5 million Canadians who are 45 years or older are the primary caregiver for an elder or senior. About 75% of all caregivers are between the ages of 45 and 64. The remaining 25% of caregivers are seniors themselves – 16% are younger seniors between 65 and 74, while 8% of caregivers are 75 and older. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the majority of these caregivers are women – about 60%. While most Canadians are caring for close family members (see below), a third of caregivers are caring for a friend, an extended family member, or a neighbor.
Who is Cared for in Canada?
Most Canadian caregivers are caring for an aging family member; 70% of all caregivers care for family. Of these family members, 60% of them are elderly parents or parent-in-laws. A minority of caregivers (less than 10%) provide care for their spouse, but some researchers suspect this number may actually be higher, because caregivers tend to under report caring for spouses. In particular, aging wives tend to care for aging husbands but do not report it as caregiving.
Because men tend to die at a younger age than women, the majority of elders receiving long term care from a caregiver are women. In particular, the most common situation for a caregiver in Canada is to care for an elderly mother or mother-in-law.
As Canadians age, long term caregiving will be more and more common. As caregivers pay their own toll of exhaustion and emotional hardship in caring for their elderly loved ones, Canadians should start planning now for how they plan to provide care for their aging relatives and friends.
Tags: aging trends, caregiving, Elder Care, long term care
Posted in Care Giving Strategies, Elder Care | 1 Comment »
Monday, September 21st, 2009
Adult children with aging or elderly parents are understandably reluctant to put their parents into nursing homes or similar long term care facilities. Only in 2007, Calgary residents may remember that the Calgary Health Region terminated its contract with Holy Cross Centre, forcing 42 elderly residents to relocate. Problematic nursing homes and long term care facilities can be found not just in Calgary, but across Canada. Again and again, elder care in nursing homes is found to be sub-par – elders are abused, neglected, or simply feel unloved. It is not surprising, then, that relatives of seniors and elders are looking for new models for caring for their elders.
Some adult children of the elderly graciously take their parents into their own homes. Others feel they can’t take their elders into their home, because their elders cannot be left alone during the day. It is usually at this point that caregivers reluctantly place their parents into a nursing home or a long term care facility.
A new trend in long term care is the adult day care centre. In the Calgary area, many health centres provide adult day care. These day care programs provide seniors and elders with a safe place to stay during the day while also providing enriching social activities and nutritious meals.
Alberta Health Services runs fourteen such programs in and around Calgary. To enroll a senior into a day support program, elders or their caregivers must first be a Home Care client. The elder’s Home Care - Community Care Coordinator must then refer the elder to one of the regionally funded programs. The good news is that day support is provided for a scant $8 per day.
Plan Now – Calgary is Cutting Back Beds
On September 16, 2009, the cash-strapped Alberta health care system announced that it would cut 350 beds around Alberta, with the bulk of these being in Calgary and Edmonton. Many of these 350 beds are occupied by seniors who are waiting for placement into a long term care facility.
The good news is that Alberta is cutting the beds in order to create more alternatives for long term care for seniors in Calgary and throughout Alberta: plans call for 800 community living spaces, which will include assisted living homes, home care, and new long term care facilities. However, in the meantime, residents of Calgary and the surrounding area should expect some bumps in the road as these changes wash through the Alberta health care system.
Tags: elder care Calgary, long term care Alberta, long term care Calgary
Posted in Elder Care, Long Term Care, Long Term Care Insurance | 1 Comment »
Monday, September 21st, 2009
These days, Canadians are looking for alternatives to long term care homes for their elders. Nursing homes are notoriously depressing, and abuse of elderly patients who cannot report their caregivers is all too common. Many Canadians are hiring elder care planning counselors to help them keep their elderly relatives at home so that long term care can be provided in a familiar, safe environment.
But what if your elderly relative is a widow or a widower, and living at home by themselves is even more depressing than living in a long term care facility, where at least they would have company?
This is exactly the situation that Ellen Besso, who lives in a small town 50 km north of Vancouver, faced when her aging mother could no longer care for herself. Her mother had Alzheimer’s but she also didn’t want to live alone. First Besso placed her mother in a long term care facility in North Vancouver, but her mother went to several other long term care facilities in the region before finally settling into Totem Lodge Extended Care in Sechelt.
Besso wrote a book about her experience trying to find good long term care for her mother, entitled Surviving Eldercare: Where Their Needs End and Yours Begin. Her book chronicles her own emotional struggles as she searched for a safe place for her mother to reside in the Vancouver area.
Besso’s experiences, including feeling guilty over not being able to care for her mother as much as she wanted to and the shocking experience of role reversal as the child parents her parent, are not uncommon for Canadians charged with caring for their elders. While many seniors find themselves in nursing homes or accepting help from PSWs, the vast majority of elder care and long term care in Vancouver and elsewhere in Canada is still provided by younger relatives. As of 2007, 2.7 million Canadians were caring for an elderly relative or close friend. 712,000 of these Canadians caring for their elders also still have their own under-25 children at home.
Given the testimonies given by Besso and others in the Vancouver area, Vancouver residents with aging parents are wise to start researching long term care in Vancouver sooner rather than later. Early planning is key for preventing later heartbreak – a sentiment that Ellen Besso would certainly agree with.
Tags: elder care Vancouver, long term care Vancouver
Posted in Elder Care, Long Term Care, Long Term Care Insurance | 1 Comment »
Monday, September 21st, 2009
Canada’s population is aging. By 2056, a full quarter of the Canadian population will be over the age of 65. And already, between 2002 and 2007, the number of family and friends providing personal care to elders increased 670,000.
But caregivers pay an emotional and physical toll for providing care for elder relatives and friends. Increasingly, Canadians are looking for alternative ideas for long term senior and elder care.
In Toronto, new services such as Elder Care By Design are springing up to help families care for their elders. Elder Care By Design helps seniors do what they want to do most: live in their own home even as they age. Unlike other programs that help care for seniors at home, Elder Care By Design (and similar companies) is not a home health care company. Rather, it helps families coordinate and organize the many complex issues seniors have to navigate – health matters, legal matters, financial matters, etc. Staff members help seniors fix things up around their house, care for pets as seniors become unable to care for them, and educate seniors and their families about long term care issues.
Another company in the Toronto area providing similar services is called Caring Matters. Sherri Auger, a certified Elder Planning Counselor, founded Caring Matters after losing her mother and having to place her father into a long term care facility.
Caring Matters and Elder Care By Design are just two examples of Canadian companies seeking to provide an alternative to notoriously depressing long term care facilities.
Personal support workers (PSWs) are another option for long term care for seniors and elders in Toronto and elsewhere in Canada who want to stay at home. PSW care is also increasingly popular because it prevents elders from having to go to a nursing home or move in with their younger relatives.
But buyer beware: not all companies who provide personal support workers are credible. In Toronto, Health Minister David Caplan has come under attack for giving contracts to unscrupulous PSW companies for political reasons. Ironically, the criticism came from the PSW labor union itself, called the Service Employees International Union, which represents nearly 50,000 PSWs in the Toronto area.
The union is also concerned that not all PSWs are being properly trained to care for elders. According to the union, there is “no common definition of PSW work or what competencies a PSW should possess.”
Toronto residents who are aging or who have aging relatives should start planning now for how to provide long term care for their elders. Due to medical advancements, seniors are living longer than ever, so long term care is just that: long. It is possible that an elder could require at least some care from their relatives for 10, 15, or even 20 years. Given this, the earlier a family can plan for long term care, the better.
Tags: elder care Toronto, long term care Toronto
Posted in Elder Care, Long Term Care, Long Term Care Insurance | No Comments »
Thursday, September 17th, 2009
Finding Reputable Long Term Care in Toronto
Having to put someone in a long term care (LTC) facility can be a very difficult and emotional decision for families and loved ones, and generally a great deal of thought and research goes into deciding which facility would best serve their needs. Finding good senior/elder care can be rife with complications, and planning for long term care insurance can be confusing at best.
Long term care insurance covers virtually all of the medical expenses that you can realistically expect to incur as a senior in long term care, whether at your home or in a facility. This coverage can run anywhere from a few years to lifetime care. Anyone who is between the ages of 30 and 80 can apply for long term care insurance. This is an excellent investment that you can make for your own future.
All LTC homes are licensed, funded and monitored by the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care to ensure that all residents are granted the same high standard of care and the same core services, such as meals, medicine distribution and one or more doctors available at all times. But there is more to choosing an LTC facility than those criteria. It’s important to visit each facility that you are considering. Does the staff engage and interact with the residents? Are the meals well prepared and served on time? Do the residents look clean and well cared for?
Another avenue in choosing a long term care facility is to contact the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care to discover what LTC homes are available in Toronto, as well as contacting the Better Business Bureau in Ontario to make sure there haven’t been any complaints against the facilities you are considering.
We don’t like to think about our mortality and the end of our life while we are busy living it, but it makes good sense to make sure that your end of life needs are not only going to be met, but that you will have the potential for happiness in your LTC home.
Tags: long term care Toronto
Posted in Elder Care, Long Term Care, Long Term Care Insurance | No Comments »
|
|
