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Posts Tagged ‘aging trends’

Staying Healthy During Ontario’s Winter Months

Wednesday, January 13th, 2010

Staying Healthy During Ontario’s Winter Months

The number of seniors in Ontario is growing at a rapid rate as baby boomers reach their golden years. All the extra seniors couldn’t come at a worse time for Ontario’s public health system, which is faced with a record deficit in 2010. The government has already warned hospitals to expect no increase in funding, a 1% increase in funding, or a 2% increase in funding. This is bad news for hospitals, who expect to see their expenses go up by at least 3 – 3.5%, leaving a significant funding gap that would affect the services that they can provide. Where might a reduction in hospital services leave Ontario’s seniors, who in general require more health care than the average younger Canadian? (more…)

Tips for Caregivers

Monday, January 11th, 2010

Tips for Caregivers


Emotionally, caring for an elderly parent who always cared for you can be a disconcerting role reversal, and without addressing these new emotions, caregivers eventually feel frazzled, overwhelmed, and unable to deal with all the new changes. But with proper preparation, a lot of the stress that comes from taking on the role of primary caregiver for an elderly relative can be avoided.

One of the hardest things for caregivers is (more…)

Eldercare and the Workplace: How to Strike a Balance

Monday, January 11th, 2010

Eldercare and the Workplace: How to Strike a Balance


Canadian employers are understandably concerned about the effects that elder care has on the workforce. In Canada, over 70% of caregivers to the elderly also hold down a job. Many of these caregivers also have a family of their own, with children still living at home.

The stress is too much for some to handle; more than a fifth of Canadians caring for an elderly relative have reported (more…)

How to Plan for the Future

Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009

How to Plan for the Future

Many of us find it difficult to look down the road to when we may require help to live as independently as possible. The longer we delay developing a plan the less likely we will achieve best possible plan. Long term care is a reality in everyone’s life as we age. It means we need to have help on a daily basis, but often where that help comes from, who pays for it and who arranges it is taken for granted.

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Predictions for 2020

Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009

Predictions for 2020

In 2020 today’s 65 year olds will be 75 which for many people will signal the beginning of old-age. This population will be living with the results of today’s predictions from the Sociologists, who study the aging population, and the Economists who study the laws of supply and demand. Some of these predictions state the following: (more…)

Aging at Home in Ontario

Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009

Aging at Home in Ontario

Because the number of seniors in Ontario will more than double in the next sixteen years, the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care is developing what they call “Ontario’s Aging at Home Strategy”. Announced in 2007, the strategy calls for an increase in home care and community support services to allow elderly residents of Ontario to age comfortably at home, rather than moving into a long term care home.

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Private Health Care in Ontario; H1N1

Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009

Private Health Care in Ontario

The privatization of health care in Ontario is here, whether we like it or not. As Dr. Albert Schumacher, the former president of the Canadian Medical Association put it, “The situation we are seeing now are more services around not being funded publicly but people having to pay for them, or their insurance companies. We have a sort of passive privatization” (Source: CBC.ca). In Ontario, when Liberals won in 2003, they promised to shut down the provinces growing number of private clinics, but in 2006 when Conservatives won federally, that promise stalled. It seems that in Ontario, as in other provinces throughout Canada, the growth of private health care is inevitable.

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Signs of Multiple Sclerosis

Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009

Signs of Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple Sclerosis is a devastating, degenerative nerve disease that often leaves MS patients wheelchair bound and unable to live independently. People living with MS often require acute long term care, either from friends and relatives or within a long term care settings.

Multiple sclerosis is not a disease associated with old age; typically, the onset age is between twenty and forty. Since early detection of MS can help people live a relatively normal life, it’s important to be able to recognize the symptoms of MS. Here are the most common early signs of multiple sclerosis: (more…)

Long Term Care Ontario

Tuesday, October 20th, 2009

Long Term Care: Not Age but Function

Generally when we think of “long term care,” our mind automatically goes to senior citizens living in nursing homes. But long term care isn’t a matter of age; it’s a matter of function. There are many Canadians currently living in long term care facilities who are not elderly but nonetheless require round the clock long term care.

Who are these younger Canadians who require long term care, and why are they living in long term care facilities?

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Long Term Care Insurance; Ontario

Tuesday, October 20th, 2009

Long Term Care Insurance — Ontario

According to Christina Bisanz, the CEO of Ontario Long-Term Care Association, the Ontario Ministry of Health has no particular intention to increase the number of new beds in Ontario’s long term care facilities. This is despite the fact that there is already a long wait list of people — 25,000 in Ontario alone, according to Bisanz — who are waiting for placement into a long term care facility. These wait lists are only getting longer as Canada’s population ages and more people need acute long term care.

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