Compassionate care

Re: Nursing home resident badly beaten in Hamilton — Feb. 4

We are very fortunate in Ontario to have resources to support those with dementia (one type of which is Alzheimer’s) that have developed behaviours that are responsive to the person’s environment, care partners, or other triggers. The Behavioural Supports Ontario team and Community Responsive Behaviours team assist those in long-term care and the community with such challenges.

As a specialist physician in geriatric medicine, I collaborate with these teams on almost a daily basis. Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for a person’s needs to surpass what these teams and other community services can offer. Alzheimer’s disease is a

serious neurodegenerative disorder and for some, it causes responsive behaviour that can only be managed in an in-patient mental health setting, such as the Seniors Specialized Mental Health in-patient program at Grand River Hospital (Freeport). This unit has a wait list that is dozens of months long, and the individuals on the wait list are often waiting in inappropriate and potentially dangerous situations — at home, in acute care hospitals or in long-term care.

The danger is real for the person with dementia, their care partners, health professionals and even in some cases other members of the public. Compassionate care of persons with dementia must include access to appropriate mental health care when it is urgently needed, before a crisis happens. The Ontario Dementia Strategy needs to include the expansion of specialized senior’s mental health in-patient resources. Nicole Didyk Kitchener