In her recent book, A Physician in the Political Arena, Dr. Merrilee Fullerton
lays out her vision of what she had hoped for in reforming the long-term care home system in Ontario. Read more:
In Chapter 3 she writes, in part:
“Residents would have a dignified environment to live in. Physical, emotional and medical needs should be met…”
…”This underlines the importance of programs such as the Butterfly Model and the Eden Alternative Model that provide a more home-like setting with greater emphasis on emotional needs.”
Dr. Fullerton clearly saw the benefit of these innovative models of care that transformed their ‘institutions to homes’. Although at a snail’s pace, the numbers of these ‘homes’, in both the public and private sector in Ontario, continue to grow each year. We need to do more.
Click here to get involved. A draft letter is there for you to edit or send to your MPP or your local media. If we don’t begin to fix the long-term care system now, the residents will be forgotten yet again until another pandemic hits.
These are great ideas. I was a patient family volunteer for many yeara on a continuing care quality committee in Alberta. We talked about these models and these ideas. The answer always was that culture change takes time. Those on the committee tried to improve care and information.. and there are good initiatives but… it will take government action and financing to really get the changes needed.
So true. Thank you for taking the time to comment.
Very encouraging that individuals who have been in positions of power and responsibility recognize the importance of transforming LTCs from institutions to homes.
Thanks for taking the time to comment. Appreciated!