‘OUTBURSTS’ RESTRICT CARE-HOME OPTIONS

And leaves caregivers in limbo

AUGUST 21, 2015

The past two months have been a bit of a whirlwind in terms of my husband and our situation.

Chuck had his annual assessment by Interior Health in early July, the offshoot of that was they did not deem him ready for placement in long term care and would not put his name on the wait list.

However, the caregiver stress test they administered to me I failed.

What was decided was that IH would provide a support worker one afternoon a week as respite for me. The support worker that showed up was a nice younger man and the two of them hung out, shot pool, etc. After the second visit IH cancelled the weekly visits due to what they termed ‘outbursts and some pushing and shoving’ on Chuck’s part.

On my side of things, living with outbursts and some pushing and shoving is something I feel I have to accept as a requirement of my role as his caregiver. So, without further help coming from IH, last month I felt like I had been left in limbo, no name on the wait list and no respite support person permitted in our home.

AUGUST 23, 2015

After what happened in July I was more than relieved when, at the start of this month, I received a phone call from the care home where we had put Chuck’s name on the wait list for private care. They had a bed for him. First I needed to sign some paperwork granting them access to Chuck’s health records from Interior Health. Later that day I got a call saying that the available bed would not be available to Chuck due to his record, with IH, of outbursts.

I was assured by this facility that there would eventually be a bed, just not in the community where they had an opening. This care home has six of these communities and it was important that Chuck be living in the community best suited for his needs as well as theirs.

Imagine my surprise when, the very next day, Interior Health called to say they had reevaluated our situation. Now Chuck was considered a priority and was put on their wait list.

When a name goes on the list for a bed, the family is asked by IH if they have any preferences for which care homes would be their top choices. A nice, but mostly meaningless, gesture on the part of Interior Health as first bed available is the policy.

Because I have been going to a support group for a number of years already, I have learned that the majority of LTC homes in Kelowna are well run and liked by the caregivers who have had experience dealing with them. However, one care home’s name kept coming up as the one to best avoid, if at all possible.

So when IH asked me if I had any preferences for certain facilities for Chuck I instead told them the name of the only facility where I did not want him to live. In my mind it was more important to avoid the care home I knew was having issues rather than tell them the names of any I would prefer, especially knowing it was mostly meaningless anyway.

Four days after that they called again, this time they had a bed for Chuck. Imagine my relief — only to be completely caught off guard and shocked to learn the bed they were offering to Chuck was in the one care home where I did not want him living.

So I turned down that bed and now I am off their list, or at best, am now at the bottom of it, again stuck in limbo. And I am not happy about any of this. Undone now three times in less than two months by IH — no support person allowed in our home, a record with IH of my husband’s outbursts limiting the number of beds available to him in LTC and then having my one expressed wish to them concerning his move to care overlooked.

So I will continue to wait for a bed privately and hope for the best.

2021

When our preferred care home called the first time with the private pay bed that ended up being unsuitable, eleven months had gone by. It took twenty-two months before they again called with a bed available. By this time Chuck had been in care for six months and I was more than pleased with the level of care he was receiving where he was now living.

Note: the care home that was struggling with issues back when I was looking for care is again being run in a competent manner with no further ongoing problems.