Long-Term Care

More Beds, Better Care Act: Ethical controversy or a better use of public money?

The More Beds, Better Care Act shouldn't be considered controversial. Is it going to make a significant dent in our ALC numbers? Probably not. But that isn’t because the concept of quickly moving patients out of situations whose resources are misaligned to patient need is a bad – or unethical – idea.

 A public policy dead end: The More Beds, Better Care Act

Bill 7, the More Beds, Better Care Act, is a hotbed of ethical issues that will fail to relieve our stressed hospital system. It's ethically and legally unsustainable, and as public policy - it’s a dead end.

Lack of political will means Ontario LTC residents will continue to suffer

Ontario’s LTC nurses want to be there to provide quality care to our residents. We know how to fix the system and do just that. But we need the political will to make it happen.

Tapping into the power of hope

Learning about a patient’s hopes can create an opportunity for both special intervention and improve goals of care conversations and assist doctors in crafting a care plan that will optimize the chances of these dreams coming true. The Oneday Dreams charity offers the hope for better quality of life to patients with terminal illness.

Re-evaluating visitor restrictions

While visitor policies have undoubtedly helped prevent COVID transmission in hospitals, as we move away from a crisis response to COVID-19, caregivers and families may once again be able to support patients alongside their health-care teams.

There is no debate – Patient Medical Homes are the way to go

The Patient's Medical Home is a vision for the future of family practice in Canada: One that focuses on comprehensive, coordinated, and continuing care for populations through a family physician working with health care teams.

Togethering as a frustrating, messy yet meaningful journey

For part four of the Togethering Series, Amy reflects on how the pandemic and her mother's heightened and unpredictable home care needs caused her family to come together to take care of each other in seemingly impossible yet profoundly meaningful ways.

Let’s ditch the ‘fear of long-term care’ narrative; instead, let’s uncomplicate aging at home

Instead of focusing on setting or place of residence, the starting point for discussions on long-term care should be understanding individuals’ physical, functional and social care needs.

Togethering in the face of a degenerative disease

After Andrea's father was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2015, it became difficult for her to provide him care in Toronto from her home in the U.S. Eventually she would have to figure out a shared living space that worked for both of her parents and her and her husband. Read Andrea's story navigating "Togethering" in part three of the series.

Togethering – Exploring housing options and the concepts of care

Togethering is unique for each family. It can take many different forms in where we live, how we support each other and how we transition together as an intergenerational “circle of care.” This introduction to the "Togethering" series explores some housing options built around concepts of care.

The essential role of spiritual care in long-term care

In 2020, Ontario's LTC lockdown policies led to the elimination of religious, recreational, therapeutic and social activities for residents, resulting in a spiritual health crisis in LTC homes. As a front-line occupational therapist, I witnessed first-hand the devastating consequences of the removal of spiritual care.

COVID-19 fallout an opportunity to fix crisis in care

Sharon Straus is a geriatrician and physician-in-chief at St. Michael’s Hospital, among other leadership roles. We're profiling her as a Pillars of the Pandemic honouree.

Love for grandmother ‘a driving force’ during pandemic

Nathan Stall is a geriatrician and scientist who fought against the heartbreaking toll that the pandemic had on the elderly and those in long-term care. We're profiling him as a Pillars of the Pandemic honouree.

Ontario’s plan to hire 4,000 LTC staff is misguided. Here’s why.

The Ontario government’s plan to invest $260 million and hire 4,000 staff in the long-term care sector is yet another ineffective attempt to solve the crisis of the PSW shortage without addressing the bigger issue: retaining the folks in these positions.

Healing through community: Reflecting on collective grief from COVID-19

We are grieving loss of life on a mass scale at a time when pandemic restrictions have disrupted our customary death rituals and traditions. Could an initiative called The Reflection Room help LTC residents and others cope with their grief?

Seniors with dementia in LTC homes are using virtual reality to relive their pasts

During the pandemic, elderly people with dementia in long-term care homes have used virtual reality to relive their pasts. Is this dementia care's future?

COVID mortality rate highlights need to re-examine long-term care 

The tragedy of COVID-19 deaths in long-term care homes should catalyze a paradigm shift in Canada’s approach to promoting the health of our aging population.

‘The way I talk has become different’: Isolation taking mental toll on LTC residents

Many elderly adults with dementia in long-term care homes have experienced a large increase in memory loss due to the isolation caused by visitor restrictions.

One Solution to the Long-Term Care Crisis: Nurse Practitioners

The pandemic has brutally exposed vulnerabilities in long-term care homes, but one solution is hiding in plain sight: nurse practitioners.

Informed Consent: Should geriatric populations be told about limited representation in vaccine clinical trials?

There are ethical questions over whether certain seniors in long-term care or their designated decision-makers have the information needed to give informed consent to receiving a COVID-19 vaccine.