Thanks for the care, which, by the way, is still needed (by Marvin Kirchner)

Thanks for the care, which, by the way, is still needed
December 13, 2009
Marvin Kirchner

I am writing this letter on behalf of our family to offer our appreciation and commend the staff of the extended care wing of the Raymond Hospital for the care they have given my dad for the past two years since he was transferred from Golden Acres when no secured facility was available in Lethbridge.

To the three RNs, their assistants, the food and cleaning staff and all others, we are so pleased with the care, compassion and love you all have shown. Thank you so much.

However, in their infantile wisdom, our health superboard has now closed down this excellent hospital wing.

Our dad, who is 102, along with most of the others, have been moved to a beautiful new building in Raymond, an assisted care facility run by the Good Samaritans. We are indeed fortunate that a large number of staff except for the RN s are now working there and we hope they will be providing the same care as was given at the Raymond Hospital.

It is appalling that our local politicians have done nothing to keep senior facilities from closing when our senior population is rapidly growing and far more extended care wings will be required in the future.

Marvin Kirchner Lethbridge

Another nail in the long-term care coffin (by Bev Muendel-Atherstone)

Another nail in the long-term care coffin
Written by Bev Muendel-Atherstone
Tuesday, 08 December 2009

Re: Nov. 29 article, “New DAL facility set to open in Raymond.”
From the tone of the article, one would actually believe the opening of the Prairie Ridge and the closing of the Raymond Health Care Centre is a good thing. It is anything but! The closing of the Raymond Care Centre will eliminate all 34 long-term care (LTC) beds, providing yet another nail in the coffin for LTC in the province.
All 85 beds at Prairie Ridge will be designated assisted living (DAL), which is a lower level of care than LTC, with no RNs on site, only “on call.” But we are led to believe there will be RNs, “with the assurance of 24-hour professional nursing.” What does this assurance mean? By the way, how many RNs will lose their jobs as the Raymond Health Care Centre is closed?
The LTC beds at Raymond Centre will be initially reduced from 34 to five, “once those who are assessed for DAL beds have been moved to Prairie Ridge.”
OK, let’s do the math. So will 29 people in long-term care be reassessed as needing a lower level of care so they fit the DAL criteria? And what happens to the people other than those who can stay in the five LTC beds only until the Raymond Centre is demolished? When that happens, where do those five people go? Will people needing LTC be moved from Raymond? We know that when sick elderly are moved, often the result is death.
Instead of being forthright with Albertans, and telling us that the Raymond Health Care Centre with its 34 LTC beds will be closed, leaving no LTC beds in Raymond which will be replaced by a lower-level-of-care facility with 85 DAL beds, everything is given a positive and convoluted spin. In fact, they try to tell us there will actually be more beds. The likelihood of ever having 90 beds is low as the Raymond Centre is slated to be closed down completely, which would obliterate the five LTC beds most likely before all 85 DAL beds are phased in.
“Once seniors have moved in to the new facility, AHS will begin steps to close the (Raymond) care centre.” This is just one small part of the heinous Alberta Health Services plan get rid of most if not all LTC beds in the province.
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No need for senior council (by Ramma Sawhney)

No need for senior council
Written by Ramma Sawhney
Tuesday, 17 November 2009

MLA Greg Weadick has exhibited adherence to a belief in a convenient but untrue reality that designated assisted living (DAL) facilities are the ultimate heaven for all aging seniors, “the right place to age” (and die), so to speak.
He immediately slips into denial when informed of true facts regarding old, incapacitated, ill, frail seniors’ difficulties and plight when they are moved from nursing homes to DAL. There is no registered nurse to promptly and professionally deal with often unexpected and complex health problems, and no 24/7 “full care” by aides in DAL.
What information can a “senior advisory council” bring to the health department that frustrated and angry citizens of Lethbridge have not expressed lucidly in a petition signed by 2,500 citizens, at rallies, in hundreds of letters to the editor in the Lethbridge Herald, phone calls, emails, letters to Mr. Weadick, the health board and Health Minister Ron Liepert?
The creation of a council is hence, hogwash. The process of privatization of senior care is already well on its way. I strongly suggest to Mr. Weadick to stop playing politics and choose between the welfare of his constituents, which in his mandate, or tow the party line, unconscientiously. As MLA Guy Boutilier said to a gathering in Lethbridge on Sept. 24, “I have to look in the mirror every night.” I hope other PC members of the Alberta legislative assembly will find time to look at their mirrors to discover who they really are.
Albertans had expressed to Mr. Klein that they are fiercely against privatization of health care. We do not want to sell our health care to greedy corporations whose bottom line is money, not compassion. We want an equitable universal public health care system in Alberta.
Secondly, we want our frail, ill parents to receive the excellent care they deserve. Let us never forget that Canada stands strongly today because of their toil, blood and sweat. Shame on a society that discards their own parents to the fringes of society to suffer in silence, because they have no capability or strength left to battle with an apathetic government. We will continue to fight for them
There is no need for a “senior health council” to tell Mr. Weadick what is already loud and clear.
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It’s time to wake up and pay attention (by Rita Spencer)

Lethbridge Herald, letter to the editor
September 26, 2009

It’s time to wake up and pay attention. Right here in Alberta, our public health system is being destroyed … ruthlessly and rapidly. Ed Stelmach’s government together with Stephen Duckett, CEO of the Alberta Health Services have crossed the line. Ailing seniors and hundreds of mental health patients are being moved out of hospitals to facilities constructed and managed (for profit) by the private sector. Superficially, the rationale for these moves sounds reasonable. They will free up hundreds of acute care beds improving wait times and pressure on emergency departments. However, these sorely needed acute care beds will remain empty since Mr. Duckett has decided we have too many nurses, and we have hundreds of patients who will be happier in the ‘community’, paying for many of their costs out of their own pockets. Euphemistically, these changes are being touted as giving patients more ‘choice’, ‘aging-in-place’ etc. In reality elderly, frail individuals, and the mentally ill – these are the vulnerable people who are being moved into privately operated facilities (mostly Designated Assisted Living). Alberta Health Services will access their needs and assign them to the most appropriate level of care. The assessment will determine the public dollars that will follow these patients. This will be paid to the privately-operated providers. The ‘freed up’ beds will no longer be available, and the money saved is going into the hands of the private sector. This is moving our public tax dollars to the private sector no matter what spin Duckett and company try to put on it.

Please make your voices heard, and contact your MLA, the Health Minister, Ron Liepert and Stephen Duckett, CEO of Alberta Health Services. Your letter or phone calls will make a difference.

Rita M. Spencer
(Not available on line)

Health-care debate an unfair fight (by Virgil Grandfield)

Health-care debate an unfair fight
Written by Virgil Grandfield
Saturday, 12 September 2009
Aug. 28, The Herald printed LPN Cynthia Haskins’ pro-DAL letter, even though many public health professionals in the province who would probably strongly disagree with her are currently subject to a gag order under Alberta Health’s new Code of Conduct. That hardly seems like a fair fight.
I understand the perceived injury to Ms. Haskins’ professional pride and think she must be a remarkable caregiver, wherever she works. Her comments, however, certainly missed the mark. I don’t believe anyone who ever visited or needed St. Michael’s long-term care units would recognize the picture Ms. Haskins painted of public nursing care, a picture that seemed a rendition of the apparently scripted viewpoints of the government’s local MLA.
Ms. Haskins also, perhaps unintentionally, invalidated our city’s seniors who have been speaking about unnecessary tragedies due to the misguided shift of senior care from the publicly administered health-care system — which they built — to the patchwork, profit-oriented DAL system whose primary focus is to get senior care off the government’s books and profits into pockets.
LPNs are surely appropriate for many tasks, but, if allowed to say so, public health professionals might mention late-night fiascos and emergency-room runs and other serious problems caused by this new parallel private system that does not allow for hiring of RNs to run senior care facilities and supervise care of patients of DAL facilities with as many as 200 highly vulnerable senior citizens.
They might also express concern about placing dementia and other patients in institutions where the government only requires bottom-line operators to guarantee two hours per day of direct care per patient, by poorly paid, non-professional care staff with extremely high turnover rates. If the government had not issued its gag order, health professionals would probably answer Ms. Haskins with the dirty truth: the DAL system was already broken before this big push to get seniors into the for-profit facilities now mushrooming around our city.
Perhaps The Herald should adopt a policy that, until the gag order is lifted, you will either offer to anonymously publish letters of public health-care professionals, or refuse to give corporate-managed health-care workers incontestable space to speak in favour of deregulation of senior care and our public health-care system. Until then, the rest of us will have to defend our public health-care system the best we can in an unfair fight.
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Public misinformed about LPNs, nursing homes (by Cynthia Haskins, LPN)

Public misinformed about LPNs, nursing homes
Written by Cynthia Haskins, LPN
Thursday, 27 August 2009
After reading your paper regarding senior care, and “nursing homes,” I have come to the conclusion that the public is grossly misinformed about the scope of practice for LPNs, and what a “nursing home” really is.
The LPN today undergoes a two-year diploma program, which has replaced the RN diploma program. LPNs initiate treatments, monitor residents for deviations for normal health status, consult doctors, receive doctors’ orders and interpret lab values. LPNs perform full head-to-toe assessments, monitor wounds and dressings. We initiate IVs and give IV medications. LPNs create care plans and care guides. LPNs are managers, educators, clinicians, team leaders and supervisors. The idea that DAL facilities do not provide “full care” is nothing short of outlandish.
We care for a variety of residents. Some require little assistance with care. Some require cueing and re-orientation, some require full assistance with dressing, toileting, eating and mobility. We provide palliative care and work with the palliative care team. Doctors, physio-therapists and occupational therapist come and do “rounds.” We have a nutritionist on staff which works with the nursing staff to meet individual dietary needs. A wide variety of activities and outings are offered to help met the recreational and social needs. We have highly trained “care aides” who work as vital team members on the front line.
The community RN works closely with the LPNs at our site, and is available 24/7.
Our residents/patients are thriving, in this DAL setting. They receive privacy, dignity and respect, something that you can not say about the “old system” where there are often four patients to a room. Residents are given choices, and independence is encouraged.
The nursing team includes RN, LPN and care aides who work closely together to provide holistic care. Care conferences are performed by the nursing team, the family doctor, pharmacist, the resident and their respective family members.
In my view, a DAL facility is a “nursing home.” The only difference I can see is that the residents have more choices, more opportunities, more care, more individuality and more freedom. Is this not what we want for our parents and eventually ourselves?
I strongly encourage all members of the community to tour a DAL facility and educate yourselves. DAL is a fabulous environment that meets all the needs of an aging community.
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Is health system’s ‘code of conduct’ designed to silence critics? (by Robert Parkyn)

Is health system’s ‘code of conduct’ designed to silence critics?
Written by Robert Parkyn
Saturday, 22 August 2009
The Alberta health board released its “code of conduct” for all employees, including physicians, registered nurses, pharmacists, paramedics, dietitians, etc.
Gagging freedom of speech, intimidation and employment concerns over possible repercussions for expressing one’s opinion is apparently now the order of the day for our premier, health minister and their health board.
Professional health workers have their own code of ethics, so why the health board’s code? Is it to promote fear and closed mouths in order to create less opposition regarding changes in our health system? Albertans should be alarmed at the steady erosion of our health system but also Alberta’s suspect state of democracy.
Registered nurses required as initially indicated by the government was 2,500 but the Aussie CEO of Alberta Health puts a freeze on hirings, bringing eastern provinces making offerings for employment to our RNs. Shades of prior years.
Don’t be fooled by slippery political tongues that health care is not sustainable or affordable. Other reasons are evident, such as costs for a multitude of government patronage committees and also even the political decision to not receive adequate oil and gas royalties.
It’s been stated that “dollars invested in health care generate about seven times as many jobs as if that dollar was invested in oil and gas extraction.” (Education, 5.5 times as many jobs per dollar — Ref: Parkland Institute)
Countries are spending billions to establish universal health care for their citizens to counter the recession.
Our health minister is doing the opposite, inflicting citizens and especially seniors with proposed drug-cost legislation and delisting of drugs and medical services, which plays into the hands of more costly private enterprises.
Citizens and certainly seniors must make noise . . . our health system is being eroded by the Stelmach government and its appointed puppet health board who are bent on cost savings at the expense of all citizens in this province.
Robert Parkyn
Lethbridge
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Tories ignoring need for long-term care (by Bal S. Boora)

Tories ignoring need for long-term care
Written by Bal S. Boora
Thursday, 20 August 2009
I felt heartache after reading the story of a retired farmer in Strathmore, Niels Bach, whose wife was placed in a long-term care facility in Vulcan, nearly 100 kilometres away from home.
According to an Aug. 6 story in the Calgary Herald, Mr. Bach, now 77, spoke out at a gathering last year where Premier Ed Stelmach was present. Mr. Stelmach promised there and then that the long-awaited facility would be built “as quickly as possible” to alleviate Strathmore’s shortage of long-term care beds.
A year and a half later, things have changed from bad to worse. The premier’s hand-picked superboard is not sure what it would build in Strathmore. It is also changing its mind in Calgary’s Garrison Green Care Centre that was promised during the election as a long-term care (LTC) facility. All Alberta communities are in the same predicament from Fort McMurray to Lethbridge. It’s clear the Alberta government has broken its promises to our seniors to provide the long-awaited facilities.
The Tory government has put Alberta’s health-care system in disorder. The superboard appears to be focusing only on Designated Assisted Living (DAL) facilities which are suitable only for those seniors who need some supervision to live their lives comfortably. There are no RNs available in these types of facilities.
However, the need for LTC capacity is not gone, it’s just that the government is changing its policy in the middle of its mandate and is chronically behind in building the needed LTC facilities. They appear to be in crisis mode once again and they hope the citizens will buy their implication that because the economy is in recession, Alberta does not have the funds needed to build these facilities. They would hope that by the next election, Albertans will forget all about it.
Alberta’s seniors deserve better. They have paid their dues in the past. They shouldn’t have to tolerate the incompetence on the part of the Tory government. The provincial government has collected unprecedented wealth in the last 36 years. They have squandered most of it.
I believe Alberta needs more long-term care beds right now. I urge all citizens to send a clear message to the Stelmach government by calling 310-0000, then 780-427-2251.
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Reason should be guide in seniors health decisions (by Ramma Sahwney)

Reason should be guide in seniors health decisions
Written by Ramma Sahwney
Wednesday, 19 August 2009
The devastating, sometimes fatal consequence of sending our ill, frail parents to Designated Assisted Living is becoming a frequent reality. Health Minister Ron Liepert has conveniently not noticed it.
At the centre of the storm is the criterion being used to assess patients for nursing home admission. It states, “only patients who require a 24/7 registered nurse (RN) can be admitted to a nursing home.” This narrow measure excludes a vast majority of incapacitated, weak, ill patients who require an RN frequently, full care by vigilant aides and a dietitian. In DAL, there is no RN, no dietitian and no “full care.”
We do not know why the old assessment procedure was altered or who created and legitimized the new one. But Mr. Liepert embraced it happily, though thoughtlessly, because he could legitimately send thousands of helpless seniors to DAL, close nursing homes and still be “politically correct.”
I have met Greg Weadick five times, along with Chinook Regional Hospital officials, and sent a letter to the health superboard explaining the facts and rationale behind my opposition to the new criteria, closure of nursing homes and transfer of patients to DAL.
All of them unanimously claimed patients moved from nursing homes to DAL are “thriving.”
These claims are unscientific and invalid. To establish a causative relationship between DAL and the said “thriving,” a longitudinal (six to eight years), scientific, non-government study, using appropriate and sane criteria, a large sample size, proper unbiased questionnaires for patients, their families, physicians and staff, and last but not least, application of suitable statistical analysis, needs to be initiated.
I strongly suggest:
1. Until we establish how nursing home patients fare when moved to DAL, Mr. Liepert should declare a moratorium on closure of nursing homes and transfer of patients to DAL.
2. The new criteria should be duly thrown out; bring back their older measure for assessment that represents reality of senior health needs.
3. Mr. Liepert and his health superboard members should visit nursing homes and listen to the patients as well as their families. They may learn some truths.
4. The assessment team must include the physician and family of the patient.
Great harm is incurred when those in power commit to self-indulgent, destructive ideologies and abandon humanity and reason as their sole guides.
“Reason is God’s crowning gift to man.” (Sophocles)
Mr. Liepert should make use of it more often.
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Update from Virgil

I have been in Indonesia trying to help Javanese workers who were exploited and abandoned by contractors hired by NGOs for tsunami reconstruction projects in Aceh.

I just got an e-mail update from Mom today saying that Dad is being placed this week in the last available long term care home in Lethbridge. So, thanks to you, it looks like dad is going to be in the kind of place where he will get the care he needs and deserves. We have made other progress: half of the dementia beds at St. Michael’s were at least temporarily re-opened; the government announced establishment of community health councils; a member of the government joined our side and was kicked out of caucus and now serves as an independent; this issue of senior care has become one of the hottest health care and political issues in the province, with political parties and action groups hosting town halls on this issue and keeping it in the public eye until the legislature re-convenes after what was supposed to be the quiet summer where these changes would slip under the radar. Not bad results, and it all started with us putting up our banner, drawing a line in the sand, writing and calling politicians and saying enough is enough to the deregulation of health care and the sellout of senior citizens. Thank-you.

My neighbour boy Jamal often comes by our house for tea or mealtimes. One day he insisted on setting a place at the for a roommate who was not there. “Leave no man behind,” Jamal said, in his three musketeer voice. Ever since that has been our house motto. There are many other seniors in the province who need long term care facilities. Some of their family members have come to my home, or called me, or have written letters to their MLAs or the editor of the newspaper. Please find out if there are seniors or families in your community who need help and then help us help them, too. Leave No One Behind.

Virgil