Horwath in Shuniah to lay out plan to support seniors to age in place

SHUNIAH — Official Opposition NDP Leader Andrea Horwath was in Shuniah Wednesday to lay out a plan to help seniors age in place, in the community they know and love.

“The heathiest, happiest place for many seniors is at home. Older adults here in Shuniah, and in towns all over Ontario, deserve so much better than being sent to the nearest big city when their needs increase. And it doesn’t have to be this way — we can make sure people have a place to live and the care and support they need to stay,” said Horwath. “I’m here to make sure seniors can age in place — in their own neighbourhood, living on their own terms.”

Horwath and the NDP have laid out a plan that will help seniors in smaller municipalities get what they need – home care, affordable housing, and long-term care. Those commitments include:

• Investing at least $1 billion more dollars in home care, and making the whole system public and not-for-profit in order to deliver the same level of care in northern towns as southern cities.
• Building 30,000 new homes with supports, and 69,000 units of affordable housing. The NDP’s platform specifies that the North must get its fair share.
• Adding 50,000 new long-term care beds in a new, home-like model. Instead of large warehouse-like facilities, a nursing home can look like a regular neighbourhood house, with 10 or fewer seniors living there, making it possible to locate more beds in small municipalities.

Liberal and Conservative governments privatized home care and long-term care, letting for-profit corporations focus on big, centralized, money-making operations. They also cut programs like affordable housing instead of expanding them, leaving too few options for all seniors, especially in the North.

According to Ontario’s Auditor General, home care recipients getting less care than they need is a problem that’s even worse in the North and in smaller communities. On top of that, in the Thunder Bay region, 66 per cent of households waiting for affordable housing are seniors. There are really no housing options for seniors on a fixed income that want to stay in Shuniah. Plus, when a senior needs long-term care, they wait months or even years, then have to move to Thunder Bay. In March there were 842 people on the local wait list for a nursing home and only 25 beds becoming available each month.

“Forcing someone to leave their community, their support system and everything that’s familiar as they age is terrible,” said Horwath. “Let’s give families a better choice by offering them the supports they need to stay in the community they know and love.”

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Councillor Don Smith, Municipality of Shuniah
“The well being of the seniors in Shuniah is something that all residents of Shuniah are acutely aware of. Someone being forced to move from their home due to lack of appropriate housing options in their rural community and having to worry about medical and emergency issues as they age is fundamentally wrong and plans to improve the situation both financially and socially are paramount for the well being of the community and our seniors.”