Second Breath

The holidays are over, as is most of February. There are still serious problems in the health care system in our province. Patients are still waiting for long term care beds and families are still stressed and pulled almost beyond their resources.

My friend, whose father was bruised and abused at the Aberdeen Hospital last summer and fall, and I will be part of a delegation (for want of a better word) to meet with Premier Darryl Dexter on March 9th, 2010. This will be the second meeting with the Premier of Nova Scotia about the care, or lack of, provided to patients of Alzheimer's disease and those suffering from dementia.

The following is our list of requests...a bare minimum that we feel will improve the lot of many Nova Scotians.

1. That all staff having interaction of any kind with patients have training in how to deal with patients with Alzehiemer's Disease or Dementia. For example the 30 hour course that is available through the Alzehiemer's Society ... as the very least level of training acceptable.

2. That the wait list...wait time be reduced significantly. We know that there are 6000+ beds for long term care in the province and we know that there are over 1200 on a waiting list to receive a bed. That is as of October 9th. That is unacceptable. Most reasonably intelligent adults in this country realize that the population is aging, that dementia and Alzhiemer's are more prevelent in the elderly, and that there will be more demand for long term care in the immedately and foreseeable future. There are over 1200 families in crisis waiting for a safe, caring environment for their loved one. It is my understanding that there is currently only one individual in place to process applications for long term care beds. How can one individual do this on a timely basis? Maybe that is why it took from early June to early October for the application for Mr Williams to be admitted in a long term care facility to be processed and for him to be officially 'on the list'.

3.Home care support must be improved. Mr. Williams' widow was eligible for 40 hours of assistance each month to help with the home care of Mr Williams. That is almost an insult to a family that is dealing with the care of a loved one 24 hours each and every day. 10 hours a week really doesn't begin to address the problem.

4.The final aspect that demands immediate attention is the access to information and support services for the families. Yes there is currently a lot of information available, but when a family is struggling with the day to day business of living and caring for a loved one, they really don't have time to spend hours searching the internet or calling various agencies to see what services are available. A central clearing house of information (on the model of Cancer Care perhaps) needs to be established. A standard needs to be set and maintained.

These were, and continue to be, our requests.

Again, anyone reading this is asked to write a letter or email to the Premier of Nova Scotia or to the Health Minister asking for these four things to be put in place. One voice may not make a change, but all changes start with one voice.

Heath Minister
Department of Health
4th Floor, Joseph Howe Building
1690 Hollis Street
P.O. Box 488
Halifax, Nova Scotia
B3J 2R8

Phone: (902) 424-3377
Fax: (902) 424-0559

health.minister@gov.ns.ca

Premier Dexter Contact Information

Office of the Premier
7th Floor, One Government Place
1700 Granville Street
P.O. Box 726
Halifax, Nova Scotia
B3J 2T3

Phone: (902) 424-6600
Fax: (902) 424-7648

premier@gov.ns.ca

The course of action should be simple:
1. Identify the problems
2. Look at alternative solutions
3. Implement the solutions