Cecile Cassista is the executive director of the Coalition for Seniors and Nursing Home Residents' Rights. (Photo: Wave News)
A New Brunswick seniors advocate says she has never seen so many people waiting for a nursing home bed.
Numbers obtained by the Coalition for Seniors and Nursing Home Residents’ Rights show 817 people are on the nursing home waitlist.
According to the numbers, about 498 of the people on the list are waiting in a hospital.
“I was quite alarmed when I saw the numbers. That’s the highest I’ve ever seen them,” said Cecile Cassista, the executive director of the coalition.
Cassista, who has been tracking nursing home waitlist numbers for “many years,” said the situation is not getting any better.
‘Privatizing Our System Is Not Working’
In April 2008, the province entered into a public-private partnership with Shannex to open 216 new nursing home beds to help address waitlists.
The Department of Social Development received an exemption to enter into the agreement without going through a tendering process due to an “urgent” situation.
“In some regions of the province, we are experiencing acute nursing-home bed shortages that require immediate attention,” said then-Social Development Minister Mary Schryer in a news release.
But Cassista said the waitlist, which was at 399 people in 2007, has continued to grow ever since.
“That just goes to show that privatizing our system is not working,” she said. “Who are the ones that are being affected? It’s our seniors who have to make a home in a hospital setting. They could be at home or could be in a special care home, an environment of their choice.”
Improve Home Care Services
Cassista said one improvement to the situation would be moving seniors under the Department of Health portfolio.
“You’re in the hospital, you are under medical care, and then when it comes time to be medically stable, they transfer your file to social development and then there’s a successive process that takes place, which is a delay,” she said.
Cassista said the province also needs to focus on improving home care services so more people can stay in their homes.
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