What exactly is your long-term care plan?
The election campaign has started and The ACE Team (Advocates for the Care of the Elderly) is calling on all political parties to make their Long-Term Care Platform clear. Gary MacLeod notes ” in the pre- election period various promises were made to the more than 113,000 Nova Scotia seniors. Now we are asking each party to confirm what they will do to revitalize Long-Term Care after significant Covid deaths exposed the current systems inadequacies”. Paul Jenkinson of the ACE Team notes that ” each party is being asked to provide specific commitments for what they will do and time lines for when the commitments will be fulfilled” . “The disastrous McNeil moratorium on building any Long- Term Care beds , the crowded facilities , Covid deaths and the long waitlists is what happens when government fails to meet the needs of its seniors citizens” say MacLeod”.
The ACE Team wants to know
1) How many new Long-Term Care single bedrooms will you build during your first mandate?
2) How many new Nurse (RN), Licenced Practical Nurse (LPN) and Certified Care Aids (CCA) will you fund for LTC settings?
3) Will your party commit to staffing ratios of 1 health care provider to 4 residents and at least 4.1 hours of direct care for each LTC resident?
4) Will your party commit to harmonizing the wages of LTC health providers such that difficulties retaining LTC staff is addressed.
5) Will you commit to creating LTC Care Standards such that seniors in LTC receive more than one bath per week , frequent diaper changes and are moved regularly to avoid life threatening bed sores?
6) Will your party commit to clear Legislation or Regulations that should another pandemic or epidemic occur, directs LTC facilities to facilitate contact between residents and their family members as directed by the Public Health Officer?
The ACE Team is confident each party will make their platform available in a timely manner
Gary MacLeod
Chair, The ACE Team
Advocates for the Care of the Elderly
Halifax
Email: theaceteam@ns.sympatico.ca
Paul Jenkinson MSW
Truro
Email: pejenkinson@gmail.com
