Seniors’ Community Services calls on the province to invest $595 million in crucial home and community care services to ensure that all seniors and people living with disabilities who want to live safely in their homes and communities are able to for as long as possible. The COVID-19 pandemic has illustrated that at home and in their community is a safe place for vulnerable Ontarians to receive care, especially during a crisis. Ontarians have been clear that they prefer to receive the care they need at home and in their communities. In an increasingly over-stretched health system, home and community care remains the most cost-effective place to treat people. A robust and well-resourced home and community care sector can alleviate the pressure off the system and would enable the most appropriate use of acute care hospitals and long-term care, as well as generate significant cost savings across the system.
Our services, such as Meals on Wheels, Footcare, Transportation, Telephone Safety Checks help support seniors and people with physical disabilities to remain safely at home by meeting their everyday health and social needs. In order to ensure all Ontarians have the ability to avoid premature institutionalization and live safely at home for as long as possible, we are calling on the province to:
- Take a home first approach as the primary priority of the health system by investing $350 million in home and community care organizations and services.
- Achieve wage and job condition parity for staff across health sectors by infusing $235 million into the salaries of key front-line staff.
- Ensure the sector plays a main role in the province’s digital care strategy by investing of $10 million in digital and virtual care for the sector.
“The pandemic has demonstrated that living at home is the safest place for a vast majority of vulnerable members living in North Grenville and the surrounding areas,” said Dawn Rodger, Executive Director of Seniors’ Community Services. “It is time to properly invest in our organization and our services to ensure our clients can live safely at home for as long as possible.”
For more information about programs and services offered through Seniors’ Community Services, visit www.seniorscs.ca, or contact 613-258-3203.
