During an election campaign, political parties want to get our votes and make promises to seduce us. Citizens must then choose the issue that is most important to them and vote for the party that seems to respond best to it.
Recent opinion polls show that for seniors and those who will soon be seniors, one of the most important issues is the worry of not being able to age with dignity at home, to the point that it will certainly be a questions from the ballot box of these elections.
Your opinion
interests us.
Do you have an opinion to share? A text between 300 and 600 words that you would like to submit to us?
The affection of Quebecers for CHSLDs faded several years ago. The health crisis has created a deep trauma that the seniors’ home project alone will not be enough to heal. Seniors expect a variety of housing and care models.
Public opinion is in favor of home support on an unprecedented scale. Today’s and tomorrow’s seniors have spent their lives making their own choices, getting involved in their community, socializing with family and friends. They want their old age to reflect their active life as much as possible.
Studies
In addition, studies and clinical research demonstrate all the human and economic advantages of home support: slowing down the loss of autonomy, economic revitalization and maintenance of employment in aging regions, etc. So, let’s speed up the shift!
The Auditor General also recommends rebalancing the budgets. Institutional accommodation concerns less than 5% of seniors, but nevertheless represents 70% of the budget, despite recent injections. This chronic underinvestment is driving the health system straight into the wall. Without a preventive approach – like that advocated by social geriatrics – hospitals and CHSLDs already at maximum capacity will quickly be overwhelmed. We can no longer turn a blind eye to the demographic wave.
Two speeds
Finally, it is impossible to deny that current home support programs create a two-speed system. The public network does not meet the needs, the richest turn to the private sector, and the others, i.e. the vast majority, hit hard by inflation, have no choice but to move and liquidate the family patrimony to finance their accommodation.
Pending the conclusions of the Commissioner for Health and Well-being, which aim for long-term transformations, we must respond to the height of the crisis now and do everything possible to make home support services accessible. to all. A turnaround in ten years makes no sense for today’s seniors.
The concern of seniors, their caregivers and their families is very real. These people expect concrete solutions now. As Quebec prepares to choose the direction it will take for the next four years, we bet that, before the ballot box, seniors will ask themselves the question of who will best respond to their concerns about home support .
Martin-Charles St-Pierre, President of the EESAD Cooperation Network (Social Economy Enterprises in Domestic Help)
Dr Stéphane Lemire, President of the AGES Foundation, as well as spokespersons for the Coalition for the Dignity of Seniors: Lise Lapointe (President of the Association of Pensioners and Retirees from Education and Other Public Services of Quebec), Pierre Lynch (President of the Quebec Association for the Defense of the Rights of Retired and Pre-Retired Persons), Mireille Beaulac (President of the Alliance of Pensioners’ Associations), Paul-René Roy (President of the Quebec Association of Retired from the public and parapublic sectors), Andrée Lamontagne (president of the Interprofessional grouping of retired health service workers) and Michel Gobeil (president of the Quebec association of directors and directors of retired educational establishments)