Who will care for Mom?
A 2002 Statistics Canada study called Balancing Career and Care said that more than 1.7 million Canadian adults aged 45 to 64 were providing informal care to almost 2.3 million seniors with long-term disabilities or physical limitations. Of those caregivers, most were employed and many felt they were being pulled in two directions. Another Statistics Canada study called the General Social Survey, which is from the same year, said that 2.6 million people between the ages of 45 and 64 had children under 25 living with them, and that 27% of those people – or 712,000 – were also performing some type of elder care for aging relatives. This is the so-called ‘sandwich generation.’
The history of healthcare in Canada over the past three decades demonstrates the obvious need and subsequent growth for home care services. In 1970, the province of Ontario first established a publicly funded home care program, and by 1988, every province and territory in Canada had done the same. According to the Canadian Home Care Association, the number of Canadians receiving home care benefits almost doubled from 1995 to 2006, and today there are an estimated one million Canadians receiving home care services.
In 2002, the Romanow Report examined Canada’s healthcare system, and described home care as the next essential service and “one of the fastest growing components of health care” in the country. Two years later, the Romanow Report’s 10-Year Plan to Strengthen Health Care said that “home care is an essential part of modern, integrated and patient-centred health care.”
Jim Beck, who is Director of Public Affairs at Home Instead Senior Care, recently spoke on the State of Aging in Canada at the Summit on the Mature Work Force. He observed that:
- Worker to retiree ratios will be cut in half.
- In the next 20 years, Canadians older than 65 will increase from one in ten to one in four.
- The needs of older citizens will shift medical care from treating communicable diseases to providing chronic care for the old.
- Three- and four-generation families will become the norm.
- The cost of caring for an older population will place enormous pressure on governments.
- Present senior care systems will be overwhelmed, and the family will bear the burden.
About 90 percent of Home Instead Senior Care caregivers work part-time, and while no formal education is required, the company offers a multi-phased, safety and caregiving education program. This involves case studies, senior illness information, stimulating activities, nutritional recipes, and tips for coping with stress, all of which are followed by testing. In addition, the company offers an industry-leading Alzheimer’s training program to caregivers. The Alzheimer’s training program is the first of its kind in Canada for non-medical caregivers.
“Our primary mission is to keep seniors independent for as long as possible, and that means making sure that caregivers have the tools they need to provide seniors with the highest quality of care,” said HISC owner. “We offer resources and experiences that will benefit our employees in many future endeavors they might choose.”
Home Instead Senior Care has developed a caregiver career self-assessment to help people gauge whether caregiving is a good career option for them. Anyone is fee to try the self-assessment
Contact Bruce Mahony of Home Instead Toronto:
