“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes an existing model obsolete”
R. Buckminster Fuller.
Barely a week goes by, when we hear yet another bad news story about our long-term care homes in Ontario. (See recent articles in the Ottawa Citizen and Toronto Star).
Despite the many millions of dollars injected into the system over the last 30 years, we seem to have fallen into an abyss from which we cannot escape. Throwing good money after bad has not worked. We need to transform our system!
The Ontario government has promised 5,000 new long-term care beds by 2021/22. Models exist now such as Hogewey Villages (Netherlands), Eden Alternative models (in Canada and U.S.) and other innovative models which help to reduce aggressive incidents and promote quality of life. Currently Langley, B.C. and Tasmania are building new homes designed after Hogewey Villages – 25 years after this model was created.
We cannot wait another 25 years for progress in Ontario. We need a willingness to act for significant change to our long-term care home system. With new beds coming on stream, now is our opportunity to demand our government consider a new model of care! Our residents deserve it.
The Ontario election is in June. Please personalize the information in this post and send to your MPP urging them to address this situation! Click here for MPP information.
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We all know that people are starting to live longer so we should be putting plans in place now for the future.
After the age of 86 more people are cited with dementia. I think more support and residences will be necessary.