It’s time for a Royal Commission on elder care
This crisis makes it clear that it is past time for a national strategy
We have all been shocked and appalled, I hope, at the conditions exposed by the COVID-19 virus in nursing homes. But let’s not be hypocrites. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise to anyone with even a passing interest in elder care. Like almost everything, it takes deaths to jolt attention to a problem, and what we’re seeing in our nursing homes is the lightning bolt needed to shock open our eyes to the abuse and neglect of our elderly loved ones.
My father died from Alzheimers’ Diseases in a nursing home. We felt as a family that he would receive better care, more experienced care, than we could give at home. We believed he would live longer. Crazy isn’t it?
If my dad knew what was going on he would have begged for a bullet. He did not want to live out his life that way, unaware of his circumstances, unable to eat and go to the bathroom on his own. As the only sibling in town, I was adamant that he live in the care home close to me. I believed the conditions to be good, but I also believed that a constant presence would ensure a good relationship with the care workers and eyes on my dad daily was a good thing.
He didn’t last long in the home. He was dead in two months. I regret the decision every day. But what was I going to do? Our options were so limited. Quit my job, jeopardize my financial future and quite possibly my health, to stay home and take care of my father? Would my father want that? Did I?
Some would say yes, of course, that’s your duty as a daughter. It is a very strong societal expectation. But evidence suggests otherwise, with stay-at-home daughters more likely to experience adverse longterm health effects from the stress, isolation and financial anxiety of caring for an elderly parent, with some evidence suggesting a link between caring for a dementia elder and developing dementia due to the lack of social and intellectual stimulation and heightened anxiety. The recommendation is not for a daughter, or son, to give up their lives for their parents, but to find workable solutions that ensure the elderly and infirm are cared for in a dignified and compassionate manner. You can see this also works for spouses. Not only does it take a village to raise a child, it takes a village to care for the elderly.
You know who knows that best? Indigenous communities across North America. Consider the contrast between what is happening in nursing homes with how Indigenous communities have shutdown access to outsiders with the purpose of protecting their elders who are the knowledge keepers, the keepers of ceremony, language and history. They are to be safeguarded, not warehoused for profit and cared for by the least paid.
We can see the extreme of our western ideology in the rhetoric south of the border with some suggesting grandma be sacrificed for the economy. The idea horrifies. I’m reminded of lyrics by The Who: “I hope I die before I get old”. Who wants to live in a world of such disregard?
Of course, no family thinks of it this way when they make the decision to house an elder in a care home. They expect that their elders will get experienced care and attention, not workers so undervalued they have to work at multiple homes to make a living. That care will be compassionate and they won’t be left sitting in their soiled pants waiting hours for someone to change them.
Prime Minster Trudeau said in his daily briefing last week that we are shamed by our treatment of the elderly. He said that after the pandemic has passed that we need to take a “long hard look at how we came to this”. That “long hard look” must be a Royal Commission on Elder Care that informs the development and implementation of a long-promised National Strategy on Seniors. Supporters for such a strategy include the Senate, the Canadian Medical Association, and the National Association of Federal Retirees, among many advocates and policy wonks who have argued for years we need more attention paid to our seniors. There’s been lots of work already, with blueprints containing pillars of concern and courses of action. Why have we not moved forward on this?
What’s been exposed in care homes is the tip of the iceberg for our elderly people. That’s why the Royal Commission must be about elder care in toto and not just home care in isolation. After this is COVID business is settled, demand one.