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LOOKING FOR A NEW OR PREâ€"OWNED VOLNO? ; 533 King Street North, Waterloo 885â€"5091 free phone Bâ€"K VOLVO The next generation of Volvo retailer Limfed time offer. System in crisis, says longâ€"term care expert he association repreâ€" I senting notâ€"forâ€"profit longâ€"term care, housâ€" ing, programs and services to over 140,000 seniors in Ontario says longâ€"term is in crisis and operating funding must be increased immediâ€" ately to smooth the cracks of a fractured system. Donna Rubin, chief execâ€" utive officer of the Ontario Association of Nonâ€"Profit Homes and Services for Seniors {OANHSS}, was in Waterloo last Friday as part of a conference discussing the critical issues facing longâ€"term care providers. While concerned about meeting the needs of seniors in the future with the continâ€" ued greying of our populaâ€" tion, Rubin said that longâ€" term care is in critical need right now for more funding to fix the gaps that are TELUS® Mobility By BoB VRBANAC Chronicle Staff already appearing in the sys tem. . ~ "I‘m particularly conâ€" cerned about our ability to meet those needs now," said Rubin. "We‘re saying that there is a longâ€"term care funding crisis today." Representing 400 memâ€" ber organizations, Rubin said the sector is being hit by two conflicting trends that are putting stress on the sysâ€" tem. People _ around _ the province are living longer and accessing the services of the OANHSS members at an older age. They are also coming into the facilities in poorer health requiring a complexity of care the sector hasn‘t faced as much in the past. "They are older and sickâ€" er, and have more complex needs than ever before at a time when operating fundâ€" ing isn‘t keeping pace," said Rubin. And while the funding for the bricks and mortar of these institutions might be in place, the funding to actuâ€" ally operate them is lagging. 561 Hespeter Rd. | 292 Stone Rd. W [ZTFT:ES comere Shop| 30 Queen St. N. |160 University Ave Kitchener Waterloo â€" 743â€"3639 886â€"8610 It means that staff is Â¥ PASSPORT ¢ Mitchell Cambr 621â€"31 speter Rd. l c gs Regional Councillor Jane Elect 1 will continue to get you the best value for your tax dollar. Phone: 886â€"9626 www.janemitchells.com 823â€"5521 doing more work of increasâ€" ing complexity without the supports and training in place. Staff is also becoming stretched because they are taking care of more and more patients leaving them barely able to keep their heads above the tide of patients flowing in. "We have staff that are looking after people with a variety of complex care requirements and they have caseloads of upwards of 80 or 90 people," said Rubin. * And the strain is starting to show, said two local faciliâ€" ty administrators Gail Carlin from â€" Waterloo _ Region‘s Sunnyside Home and Bev Preuss from St. Luke‘s Place in Cambridge. "We simply don‘t have enough time to do everyâ€" thing we should be, or would like to be, doing for them," said Carlin, who takes care of _ 263 _ residents _ at Sunnyside Home with limitâ€" ed staffing. "Our staff feels very rushed, and they shouldn‘t be with an elderly person," said Preuss. "We want to give them choices and we want them to be as independent as possible." Two other factors affectâ€" ing the services is age and "We simply don‘t have enough time to do everything we should be, or would like to be, doing for them." â€"Gail Carlin Sunnyside Home VOLVO the numbers of people seek ing longâ€"term care. The average age of resiâ€" dents now entering facilities is 86. Two decades ago it was 73. That waiting list to access those services is also growâ€" ing longer as 14,000 people around the province wait to get into longâ€"term care homes. "That means people can‘t be waiting from anywhere to two to four years to get in our home," said Rubin. "They aren‘t admitted right away unless they have a very high level of need. "So that at a time of operâ€" ating funding isn‘t keeping pace, it is insufficient to meet the needs of the clients we are serving." The provincial contribuâ€" tion to that care is roughly $60 per day, and the adminâ€" istrators argue they are a costâ€"effective component of the healthâ€"care system. The problem is that they aren‘t being adequately funded to provide the care for the kind of seniors they are now takâ€" ing in. "They have requirements like intravenous feeding, wound management because they‘ve come out of hospital, and they may need palliative care because they might be 86 at the end of their days," said Rubin. "Our staff is stretched." The OANHSS is calling for an increase in operating funding from the province of at least a $11 a day or $280 million across the province. Even that is just a stopâ€" gap measure that will just address current needs, said Rubin. "That doesn‘t address the looming surge of seniors we‘ll see in the future," she said. Rubin said the dollars can‘t stay the same with the care requirements going up as the facilities meet the higher expectations of the seniors entering their serâ€" vice. The OANHSS has had some â€" tentative response from the provincial governâ€" ment but is calling for some more concrete steps in dediâ€" cated funding to be taken. More importantly, they say they are representing a segment of the population who are sometimes unable to express their own needs. "We feel that these peoâ€" ple deserve more," said Rubin. "They have a right to end their lives with dignity. "The Premier (Mike Harris) said he his commitâ€" ted to providing quality care and we‘re saying ‘show us.‘ You have to provide adeâ€" quate funding for that."