Ontario home-care providers push for expanded services
TORONTO — Four major homecare providers are asking the Ontario government to increase support for their sector, saying it would reduce pressure on a health-care system burdened by COVID-19.
The companies — Bayshore HealthCare, Closing the Gap Healthcare, VON Canada and SE Health — say bolstering home care will allow longterm-care homes and hospitals to operate more efficiently.
The group launched a campaign Thursday on their call for support.
The CEO of Closing the Gap Healthcare says COVID-19 transmission rates in homecare settings are much lower than in congregate care.
Leighton McDonald says by focusing on community care, the province can help keep more people safe from the virus.
According to provincial data, through the height of the first wave of COVID-19 until the end of May, there were 235 virus cases related to home care, compared to 4,518 in longterm-care homes.
“What didn’t happen early in the pandemic was home care wasn’t seen as a as a critical alternative to much of the institutional care,” McDonald said.
“Had that happened, we would have seen many more people cared for outside of settings that could have been potentially hazardous.”
McDonald said the coalition is hoping to build public support for increased wages and stability for workers in the homecare sector, who he said are often paid less than their colleagues in hospitals and longterm care.
“We’d like to see more people on full-time salaries, and have stable employment, so that they can actually earn a living and work with one employer,”
he said.
Dr. Samir Sinha, the director of geriatrics at Sinai Health System and the University Health Network, has been advocating for an overhaul for the homecare system for years.
Sinha said more than 38,000 Ontarians are on wait lists to get into long-term care because there isn’t enough access to home care.
But the cost to care for someone in long-term care is $180 a day, compared to $103 a day in the home-care system, he said.
Sinha said keeping people out of congregate care settings, where COVID-19 has killed
more than 1,830 people during the pandemic, is an important strategy and will help the province address capacity issues in long-term care and hospitals.
Hamilton resident Barbara Weigelt and her 78-year-old husband accessed home-care services and support the calls to boost the sector.
Weigelt said her husband had a series of health problems over several years including a heart surgery and a stroke. With the support of a registered nurse at home, and on-call after-hours care, they were able to manage.
“I consider it a lifesaver,” she said.