Loving care in LTC

Re: Long-term care homes offer loving care — June 27

Thank you to Dona Harvey for her wellwritten article on long-term care homes offering loving care. My mother has been in long-term care for 18 months, and for the most part I agree with Dona’s assessment. The chronic underfunding in longterm care should be a major concern for everyone, as it will affect almost everyone directly or indirectly at some point in their life.

There have been many times when I have visited my mother and wanted to speak to a nurse or personal support worker on the floor and was unable to find anyone. This usually happens just after meals when staff go for their well-deserved break after looking after the residents’ meals and returning them to their rooms. At those times how many staff are on the floor of 26 residents? What would happen if there was an emergency?

In addition to the lack of funding facing long-term care, the homes are usually depressing and too institutional, instead of being a vibrant homelike environment. I recently read about the Butterfly Home Project at a long-term care home in Peel Region. At this home staff are encouraged to wear street clothes and engage residents with more conversation and interaction. Less time is spent on charting and more time on interacting with residents in a meaningful way. Hallways are painted with bright colours and visually appealing murals are on the doors. The resulting change in residents and staff was truly transformational. This is the transformation we need in all long-term care homes. The emphasis needs to be on “home.” Those who live in LTC deserve this and those of us who are destined to live in one in the future will appreciate it.

Gail Sperling

Kitchener