Long Term Care: Not Just for Seniors
Long term care in Canada and long term care facilities are not just for seniors and the elderly; long term care facilities also care for those disabled individuals who are too impaired to live at home without constant medical attention. But the aging population of Canada means that there are increasingly fewer beds available in long term care facilities in Canada, and for disabled Canadians, the problem is becoming ever more apparent.
Take Ian Bazay, for example. In 2003, Bazay, a Prince George, BC, resident, was diagnosed with MS (multiple sclerosis). MS is a devastating degenerative neurological disease that gradually takes away the ability to physically (and sometimes cognitively) function.
Bazay checked himself into a hospital because he couldn’t care for himself any longer. He was informed he would probably be placed into a long term care facility, so he sold all his furniture and left his rented home. But instead of being sent to a long term care facility, the hospital was going to release Bazay to a men’s homeless shelter. Bazay, who was once robbed by three teens on the street who flipped him out of his wheelchair to rifle through his pockets, refused to go to the homeless shelter. Only after the Prince George Free Press ran a story about Bazay’s situation did the hospital acquiesce and allow him to remain. Bazay’s plight highlights the need for more long term care options for the disabled.
Mentally Disabled Adults in Long Term Care Facilities
While some disabilities increase over time as the body ages, such as Ian Bazay’s MS, adults with mental disabilities often find themselves in long term care facilities when a parent or guardian dies or is no longer able to care for them.
Ranging from mental handicaps to mental illnesses, patients requiring acute long term care living in group homes notoriously suffer from abuse, both at the hands of unscrupulous staff members as well as other patients. In Nova Scotia alone, nearly fifty cases of abuse were reported between 2007 and 2009. And because there are not always enough facilities to keep them separate, adults with mental handicaps such as Down Syndrome may find themselves sharing the same living facility as those with schizophrenia or severe behavioural conditions. Such an environment makes abuse all the more likely.
A Safe Place for the Disabled
Just as Canadians are now exploring alternatives to nursing homes for seniors, they should also consider safe alternatives for disabled adults. No one should have to go through what Ian Bazay has gone through, and no one with mental handicaps should be placed somewhere where their physical and emotional safety is compromised. Safe, affordable long term care ought to be available to all Canadians.
