The Goderich Signal-Star, 1986-10-08, Page 15Community
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SECTION
GODERICH SIGNAL STAR, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 8, 1986—PAGE to
Care of elderly is
oti,ii✓shocking and disgusting
iµ .�
BY SHARON DIETZ
0
vative budget of the Mulroney
A ieading auLhut ivy v&Uz U1c 1V:....1.1 IJ
Health Organization says she is con- The elderly comprise two popula-
vinced there is. a crisis looming in tions, an extreme group which is
health care of the elderly. especially vulnerable to health im-
Having had first hand experience pairments and a second group
with the inadequacies of one large capable of living independently. in a
Ontario hospital in the care of the relative state of wellness. They re -
dying, when she cared for an older quire individual care through the in -
loved one, Dorothy Wall says there volvement of the older people
i5 a warning of impeding crisis that themselves and their families in the
reaches all levels of national care they receive.
thinking. The role health plays is para -
A striking feature of our changing mount, says Wall. The keystone of
demographic profile is our aging policies on aging is the commitment
population which is expected to con- of government, a caring health care
tinue. By the year 2001,12 per cent of industry and individuals. The health
the Canadian population is expected of the individual affects the family
to be over the age of 65. It could ac- and the community.
celerate beyond this if people keep Health services available to the
living beyond the age of 80. elderly affects social, political,
"The implications of an aging economic and cultural aspects of na-
population will affect all areas of na- tional life. Acute care does not meet
tional life, social, political,_economic the needs of people until they
and cultural," says Wall who has co- become sick or injured.
authored discussion and position "We do not have one of the best
papers on care of the elderly for the health care services in the world,"
World Health Organization. says Wall. "We have one of the best
There is evidence of a growing ac- curative services in the world."
ceptance by government and the •. We must provide a health care
public that the care of the elderly is system that looks after ongoing
a public responsibility. ' health, better preventative care and
"We are behind the times com- ongoing wellness, suggests Wall.
pared to other countries in this There are no clearly defined goals in
the health system in terms of
prevention of wellness and
maintenance of health, but Wall
believes the will of the public will
force government to enforce the pro-
motion of preventative and
maintenance health services.
material needs. The challenge is to It is the hope that, by promoting
transform concepts into reality. preventionof illness and disease and
Canada has provided some finan- maintenance , of health, the real
cial security and prepaid medical health of the nation will improve and
care for the elderly but we still have the need for curative care will
a long distance, to go before every diminish, she says.
senior citizen has a share in all the The projected costs for politicians,
benefits flowing from society, says health care professionals and the
Wall. public in the present system cannot
Care is only.,mai'ginally adequate be supported into the future.
and will not meet the needs of. the "The elderly population . has
future, she told the fall conference of received too little attention in the
the Hospital Auxiliaries Association past. Care is inadequate and we can=
of Ontario Region 2, hosted by the not continue to put them into institu-
Alexandra Marine and General tions or we will promote the callous
Hospital Auxiliary on September 29. practice of warehousing elderly."
"Desperate, shocking, disgusting The elderly have been researched,
and inexcusable are comments chill- discussed and looked into ' ad
ing in their revelations," said Wall, nauseum, says Wall, and very few
referring to comments people make recommendations that are good are
to describe the care of the elderly. being implemented.
There exists a growing ground- "The information is there for the
swell in public opinion that will force . planning and desireable change. If
change. The elderly themselves are we do riot, we will face a crisis by the
becoming organized and have year 2,000. The total provincial
already shown they can effect budget will be required to pay for in -
change. Senior citizens organized to stitutional care of the elderly if we
force the federal finance minister to continue to institutionalize the elder -
back down on his proposal to de- ly at the rate we are now,',' claims
index pensions in the first Conser- Wall.
°it
ie.
•
-
1
Crisis
loomin
in care
of elderly
regard," says Wall.
Deserve care
"By virtue of hardship, war and
struggle,(the elderly) have all the
rights of the rest of society," and the
elderly deserve care beyond ,their
1
Overdrugging•1tL1t1onallZatlon
and .overinst
responsible • • • •
for elderly- admissions sions to hospit
"We require an infra -structure to sup -
BY SHARON DIETZ
"Overdrugging and improper use of
drugs is responsible for 10 per of
elderly admissions to hospital in Bri-
tain," Dorothy Wall told the fall con-
ference of the Hospital Auxiliaries
Association of Ontario Region 2 in
Goderich, September 29.
"Overdrugging and improper use of
drugs is responsible for 10 per cent of
elderly admissions to hospital in Bri-
tain," Dorothy Wall told the conference
of region 2 hospital auxiliaries in
Goderich, September 29.
She went on to say she believes both of
these factors are responsible for illness
in elderly Canadians.
"We must maintain a state of health
where elderly can live independently at
home," said Wall. Living at home has
any ,number of benefits for the elderly
and for society, she added.
Services for the elderly who choose to
remain in their homes are fragmented
and unco-ordinated and create as many
problems as they solve, said Wall.
She told the story of g Woman who has
cared for her husband who suffered a
stroke at home for three years. This
woman told Wall she was tired from look-
ing after all the people who are looking
after her husband. Six different health
care professionals from, six different
agencies come into her home to care for
her husband each week.
The agencies rarely send the same per-
son on a consistent basis and the woman
is tired of telling than about her hus-
band's history, what he likes and dislikes
and where the tea towels are.
"There is a tremendous need to co-
ordinate service," said Wail. The cost of
administrative services for all the dif-
ferent agencies would be better put
towards health pare. -
"We require an infra -structure
tol support homemakers or else
(caring for the elderly at home)
will bea new form ' of exploitation
of middle age wo r► n."
1111111111MOIN
POSTSCRIPT
By Susan Hundertmark
port homemakers or else (caring for the
elderly at home) will be a new form of ex-
ploitation of middle age women," observ-
ed Wall.
Women should ask pertinent questions
such as what kind of services are
available and what quality of service is
it?
The Cask of identifying well elderly and
helping them maintain their health is a
, staggering problem but one we must
solve if people are to live and die in digni-
ty," said Wall.
The acute care system breaks down
when the patient leaves the hospital and
often he cannot get the services required
to stay at home. The patient is shunted to
an institution or chronic care hospital,
which is "a prelude to dying".
"Once the door shuts there's almost no
way out," said Wall. "We will always
need good homes for caring for
chronically ill but this should be a last
resort."
On the subject of nursing,homes, Wall
asked if it is right for homes that care for
the elderly to be established for the pur-
pose of raising money.
"We must look at what it is costing us
to keep our elderly in poor conditions,"
said Wall.
She called the Ontario Nursing Homes
Act one of the most inadequate pieces of
legislation because it provides for so lit-
tle nursing care..
The act states that a patient must
receive only three-quarters of one hour
each week' service provided by a
registered nurse. The patient should
receive eight and oue-quarter hours of
- service by health care aide who has lit-
tle or no training.
"It is important that we know what is
happening to our elderly .in these homes
o produce effective change."
Life's beauty
can combat
intolerance
It was a day typical of recent
weather...grey clouds and a few
sprinkles of rain on the windshield mingl-
peeking through where clouds wore thin
before they thickened again.
Despite the greyness, I felt warm driv-
ing down gravel roads with an elderly
friend – a man who's usually fun, in-
teresting and entertaining.
With his keen eye for wildlife, he spot-
ted a flock of wild Canadian geese swim-
ming on a distant pond. Together we
counted them and as we approached the
pond, he stopped the truck and suggested
we feed them with the few cobs of dried
corn he carried in the back.
With one cob each, we shelled the
kernels off and tossed them to the curious
but cautious geese. As he stood tossing
the corn, he smiled and talked, coaxing
the geese closer.
A veteran of such adventures, my
friend finished off his cob and took over
myclumisy attempts to shell my. smaller
cob still handing me the kernels -se I
could continue tossing them to the geese.
After the final handful, we retreated to
the truck so the geese could feel free to
hunt for the corn and devour it.
It was a wonderful experience – a gift
from an experienced outdoorsman to an
appreciative city -raised tenderfoot – a
sharing of a love of living beings.
Later the same day, the brief beauty of
feeding the wild geese was overshadow-
ed by a cloud of ugliness.
In an attempt to entertain during din-
ner, my friend described his disgust over
a racially -mixed marriage in his com-
munity. My heart sank as he gleefully
related how he'd asked a local woman
how she could marry a "nigger" and
then looked to me to share in his
amusement.
But, that was an experience I could not
share.
I was shocked and disappointed by my
friend's rapid switch from love to hatred,
from respect to bigotry. I felt my earlier
_feelings of warmth and affection
deteriorate into disapproval and dislike.
And, I was confused by the contrast. •
Though I asked for enlightenment, I
could not understand the basis for my
friend's hatred of other human beings.
He mumbled something about an inci-
dent as old as the Second World War and
I realized he'd been nurturing his hatred
for quite a while.
I wondered if he had realized that if my
skin color had been any other color than
white, we would not have shared the en-
joyment of feeding the geese together.
The realization made me both angry and
sad.
I also realized that since I have tradi-
tionally labelled and avoided racists, my
intolerance for intolerance would also
have prevented our afternoon together
had I know his feelings earlier. I suppose
I have retaliated against those who hate,
whether I've been the target or not, by'
hating them back.
But, I felt uncomfortable disliking the
man I'd recently felt such affection for:
So, I satisfied myself by merely disliking
his words and realizing that beauty and
ugliness can originate at the same
source.
The saddest result of intolerance is the
fact that it prevents people from getting
to know each other and from sharing any
number of life's brief but beautiful ex-
periences. And, such experiences seem
weak and powerless against the im-
mense strength of hatred, an emotion
that's so easily built into our political
systems, our lifestyles, our cultures and
our self -identification.
People forget about other people when
they identify themselves as whites
against blacks, capitalists against com-
munists, Catholics against Protestants
or me against you.
And, although intolerance should not
be tolerated, it's hard to know how to
fight hatred without
ftehating back. Us so
Using
much more effort.
Maybe we have to begin to place more
significance on the brief and beautiful ex-
periences. Would we be on the right track
to abolishing apartheid if we encouraged
blacks and whites in South Africa to feed
some wild geese, enjoy a brilliant sunset
or walk through the woods together?
Such an idea is so simplistic it 'would
probably be regarded as an idiotic insult
by the people who've struggled for so
long under a system as repressive and
violent as apartheid. ,But, still, I think it
has some merit.
How significant were the fireside chats
between U.S. President Ronald Reagan
and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev? I
have to believe that the more those two
identify with the human characteristics
of each other, the less likely another
world war becomes.
- 'I think we all have to realize we're
equally capable of both beauty and
ugliness when we relate to people. it's up
to all of us to choose the beauty over the
ugliness. -