Judging by a couple of recent articles in Canadian papers, the issues affecting direct-care workers don’t change much when you cross the border.

A July 25 article in the Prince George Citizen describes a British Columbia public relations campaign that aims to generate interest in direct-care work as a career, which was spurred by “a critical need for care aides and home support workers to care for B.C.’s elderly.”

The article says more than 1,500 qualified graduates are needed immediately to fill current positions in nursing homes, assisted living, and home care. To meet fast-growing demand, the government plants to complete 5,000 new long-term care beds and assisted living units by the end of the year, creating the need for more workers.

The $160,000 B.C. Cares Campaign includes a student loan forgiveness program.

And a July 4 article in The Canadian Press called on Ontario to “turn its understaffed, institutional long-term care homes, where residents are more likely to be restrained and medicated, into small community homes where staff have the time to drink coffee with their elderly charges.”

In an analysis of recent nursing home inspection reports, the paper found that three-quarters of the province’s homes are falling short of some of the province’s standards. Some are too short-staffed to provide residents with a minimum of two baths a week. A geriatric care expert is quoted as saying Ontario’s long-term care homes are among the most short-staffed in North America, “keeping company with only a few of the southern American states.”

The article points to Sweden, where residents get an average of six hours of care a day, as a role model, saying that Swedish homes emulate family residences rather than hospitals. In contrast, residents in Ontario get an average of three hours of care a day, most of it from a personal care worker.

One expert said Canadian workers laugh when asked if they have a daily coffee with their residents. “Instead, she said they talk about not having time to explain to residents why they have to go back to their room, not being able to sit with residents when they are crying, or not allowing residents to even thoroughly chew their food,” the article says.

Also cited is a 2001 PricewaterhouseCoopers report that found over a third of the province’s elderly residents were restrained and given antipsychotic drugs. “Generally, pharmaceutical approaches require less staff time than behavior management and evaluation programs,” the report noted.

Elise Nakhnikian, Senior Online Editor
enakhnikian@phinational.org