Mid-Island candidates discuss seniors care and supportive housing in Nanaimo, Oceanside

Kathleen Jones (Liberals)

I will advocate for Seniors to remain living in their own homes. I want to see paid family care providers and provision of complete in-home nursing care, grants for medical equipment and home renovations (i.e. ramps, grab bars, shower modifications etc) as well as community transportation systems for recreation, therapeutic & medical appointments. Government grants for purchase of assisted living devices (canes, lifelines, hearing aids etc.) and rental subsidy programs specific to seniors. When in-home care is no longer possible I will advocate for a range of medical model care homes.

Sheila Malcolmson (NDP)

COVID-19 exposed the true cost of BCLiberal neglect in seniors’ care.

For 16 years, they changed laws to allow for privatization and cuts to social services.

Staff were underpaid and many had to work in multiple facilities to make ends meet, which contributed to disease outbreaks that made the pandemic worse.

The senior’s advocate issued a scathing report saying 9 of 10 care homes were not adequately staffed under the BCLiberals. When the pandemic hit, John Horgan and Adrian Dix took swift action to stop outbreaks in care homes. They implemented an order to assign over 8,000 staff to work in single care-home facilities, with the support of HEU.

We raised wages to ensure those workers were treated fairly and that our plan would work for them. And we worked to provide extra support for seniors living at home. We’ve made progress, but there’s more work to do. We will:

* Continue with our ambitious 10-year affordable housing plan;

* Expand home support so seniors can stay home longer;

* Work with non-profits to build public care homes; and

* Hire thousands of new health care professionals to ensure quality care regardless of where seniors live.

Lia Versaevel (Greens)

Supportive and assisted living must not be owned by private corporations prioritizing profits over well-being. The pandemic has highlighted the need for these facilities to be better regulated, licensed and monitored, and for staff who work in these facilities to be paid a decent living wage, so that they do not have to work at three or four locations, and can get enough hours to obtain benefits.

It is also high time we looked at other models of Elder Care, where seniors are encouraged and enabled to live with extended family members and adult children, with supports built in for those families. EMIN is an organization that has been working for decades https://elder-mediation-international.net/ to promote the respectful communication between family members and elders to create a best case scenario and advanced care options.

Municipalities must also be motivated financially to create zoning that permits legal suites for elders, lane housing or infill housing where seniors can live close

by extended family members, and access the resources that they need locally. For a Nanaimo resident to have to travel to Vancouver or Victoria for healthcare purposes is ridiculous, exhausting, and further compromises their fragile health.

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Chris Istace (Greens)

I want to ensure that seniors are able to age in their communities with their families. For those that require long term care as they age, it is vitally important that we ensure they are being given the best possible care so they can live their lives with the dignity and happiness that they deserve. The BC Greens are committed to strengthening public care for seniors by making it publically funded. This would be a positive, lasting, legacy that would come from the COVID-19 pandemic.

When we take care of those that take care of our seniors and elders we can ensure better outcomes for all. We will ensure that care workers are recognized as healthcare professionals and establish wages and benefits that mirror that. We will begin to shift the sector away from for-profit private companies and towards a sustainable model that supports and prioritizes the expansion of high-quality and accessible public seniors care in BC. We need to stop using public money to subsidize private care, and turn profits for shareholders into quality care for our seniors and elders.

Duck Paterson (Liberals)

What has to happen is the vulnerable people need to have proper caregivers and a proper place to stay. They need real opportunities to get off drugs… not the “out of sight – out of mind” approach by the NDP government. Seniors still would like to be independent and I believe that the longer they can stay in their own homes, or even live with family is far superior than having these folks, that have worked hard all their lives, spending their remaining days in facilities which don’t feel like home. If being put in a care facility we need to make sure that the proper help is there. Caregivers that work only there. Caregivers who make decent wages. Seniors need to be rewarded for their work and I would like to see that happen.

Doug Routley (NDP)

When we look at the needs of our community there is no denying that we need more housing- and that includes assisted and supportive housing, along with affordable housing in general. When we formed government, we inherited a massive housing crisis and in just over 3 years we have already built more housing units than the previous government did in 16 years- including over 400 affordable seniors housing units from Nanaimo to Cowichan. We have repealed Bills 29 and 94 which were passed by the previous government and opened the doors to privatization of our senior care homes.We saw examples of the negative impacts these bills had on local care homes in Nanaimo where there were massive staff layoffs. We also invested $240 million to increase senior care hours to ensure seniors are getting the care they deserve.

We have made progress on the issue of housing, and senior care in general- but this pandemic has also shown us how much more work is needed to ensure protection of our most vulnerable citizens. That’s why we have committed to a $1.4 Billion investment into improving senior care- including ensuring that every senior has access to a private room.

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Robert Lyon (Greens)

“It is an I’ll wind that blows nobody good” – John Heywood. The COVID pandemic that has raged across the world has taught us some hard lessons, but learn from them we must. Ensuring that our seniors are given the best possible care so that they can live their lives with dignity and happiness is paramount to the BC Greens. The workers who provide this care also need to be paid appropriately and end the practice of 2 sometimes 3 part time jobs in multiple care facilities so for-profit institutions can avoid paying bennefits. They are not entry level jobs. The people who work in this industry are professional health care workers who deserve stable employment. We will end the practice of private companies profiting off our publicly funded long term care and begin to shift the sector away from a for-profit model to a mix of public, not-for-profit, community based services and co-ops. I would also advocate for private rooms for all seniors in care. This pandemic has shown us that our seniors are the most at risk. Working in multiple facilities and sharing rooms must end immediately. We have a plan for that.

Don Purdey (Conservatives)

Provide assistance so seniors can stay in their home as long as possible—- House keeping, yard care, some meals, care givers to check every few days as needed.

John St. John (Independent)

In many countries the elderly are respected for their wisdom and knowledge… they have given their youth to build this community and deserve to be applauded for their service, not considered useless and locked away in a home. Constantly it is the community that does all the work to help these people not the government, I think more should be done to help and assist these grass-root endeavors. People spend their lives working and paying for a house, then in their golden years when they should be relaxing, they have to sell everything they have built up, just to pay medical bills and the fees for place in a home. Then what happens when the money runs out? They are thrown out or degraded to a lower level. This must change, or this will be our reward for working hard too!

Michelle Stilwell (Liberals)

Many of us have direct experience of the heartbreaking impacts COVID-19 has had on our long-term care facilities and assisted living residences. The BC Liberal platform includes key commitments to support seniors here in British Columbia.

First, in order to help seniors stay in their homes longer, we have proposed a new Seniors’ Home Care Tax Credit. This will provide up to $7,000 in tax credits for home care services. For many seniors in our community, a little extra help with yard work, cleaning, or other support services will go a long way in helping them to stay in their homes. This will also support our small businesses who provide these services in our community.

Second, the BC Liberal Party has committed to a five-year, $1-billion long-term care home plan. Under this plan, a BC Liberal government will replace and upgrade outdated long-term care homes and assisted living residences to ensure every senior who wants a private room can have one.

I will continue my work to deliver expanded medical facilities so that instead of travelling to Victoria or Vancouver, more procedures can be performed locally.

Adam Walker (NDP)

I believe that our seniors and elders deserve to live out their final years with dignity. I also believe that we have a responsibility as a community to make sure the most vulnerable among us have the supports they need.

Over the past three years, the BC NDP government made the biggest investment in seniors care in decades, and we’ve significantly increased the number of care hours that seniors receive – whether they’re at home, in assisted living, or in long-term care. We have increased and expanded access to the rental supplement available for low-income seniors.

An NDP government will continue to prioritize seniors’ care. We’ll expand home care support so seniors can stay at home longer, we’ll work with non-profits to build public care homes that will make sure seniors are safe and receive the care they need and deserve, and we’ll hire thousands of new health care professionals to ensure quality care regardless of where seniors live.

by NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

Mid-Island candidates discuss seniors care and supportive housing in Nanaimo, Oceanside

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