With a good circle of friends and supporters, some home and health care and a very committed local association, Gordon Ferguson, a long-time self-advocate and People First member was assured of his wish to stay at home during his final years of failing health. Douglas Cartan, one of his friends, remembers Gordon and talks about the need for life-long community … Read More
Community Living Ontario Releases Pre-Budget Recommendations
Our pre-budget document stresses the fact that people, families, and service organizations will require expanded supports over the next fifteen months, as we face new challenges including more contagious variants of COVID-19. Community Living Ontario is recommending the following: Continue the $3 per hour wage enhancement for workers in developmental services. Develop and implement a robust mental health strategy for … Read More
It’s Time to Shift Our Thinking on Long-Term Care
John Lord, an order of Canada recipient, is a researcher and author living in Waterloo. He is the author of several books, including “Pathways to Inclusion: Building a New Story with People and Communities.” He is a member of Seniors for Social Action Ontario.Dr. John Lord’s recent opinion piece in The Record is a clarion call to rethink elder care in this province. … Read More
It’s Time to Rethink Long-Term Care for Seniors
Aldred H. Neufeldt is Professor Emeritus of community health sciences at the University of Calgary and a Fellow of the Canadian Psychological Association. It took a rogue virus to make it obvious that 20 or 30 dependent seniors in one area within a long-term-care (LTC) facility isn’t the best idea in the world. This begs the question of what approaches Ontario’s … Read More
Op-Ed: Stop Normalizing Long-Term Care for People Who Have Developmental Disabilities
Over the past couple of weeks, we have highlighted the issue of people who have intellectual or developmental disabilities (IDD), being put into long-term care (LTC) facilities, well before the age of 65. Neither I nor any member of my family, friends or colleagues, have ever expressed a desire to live in a long-term care facility, at ANY age. Yet … Read More
Time to Provide Funding and Real Choice in Long-term Care
For our first instalment of the Supporting Aging in Place Series, we’re sharing a piece from Patricia Spindel, Ph.D. and Judith Sandys, Ph.D., two long time Community Living advocates who highlight some of the systemic issues affecting long-term care. The parallel to the work that the community living movement has done over generations can clearly be seen. People need real … Read More
