Given the Auditor General’s release of their special report on Pandemic Readiness and Response in Long-Term Care, we thought it would be useful to reflect on the information we have at hand related to seniors in Burlington. Five Burlington Vital Signs reports have been released by the Burlington Foundation, in 2018 (part two), 2017 (part one), 2014, 2013, and 2012. For the purpose of the Vital Signs reports, a senior is defined as a Burlington resident 65 years of age and older.
The Vital Signs 2017 Report Part 1 was produced in October 2017 (see https://burlingtonfoundation.org/) and included information about mental health and wellness, housing, the environment, youth and young adults, and seniors. Part 2 was produced in April 2018, including information about income and poverty,newcomers and inclusivity, work, and getting around the city. Research for all except the 2012 Vital Signs report was completed by Sage Research Corporation.
The Vital Signs reports indicated that seniors are the fastest growing age group in Burlington. They reported 18.9% growth of the senior population in the past five years. Almost one in five Burlington residents are seniors (19.3%). It was noted that one in five Burlington seniors require assistance with basic household activities.
“Timely access to local long-term care in Burlington continues to be an issue.”
In Burlington, they noted that there are ten long-term care homes: 1279 spaces. Online research at the time of writing (April 29, 2021) indicates the same number of long-term care homes in Burlington. “Since 2013, no new long-term care homes have opened in Burlington and only 64 new long-term care beds have been added through expansion…62.7% of standard care spaces in Halton cost $4000 or more to rent vs. 31.1% for Ontario.”
Let’s go back to the earlier reports. Has the situation improved since 2012? Research for the Vital Signs 2012 report was done by PLAY Advertising. That report noted that those 80 years and over were the fastest growing group of seniors (60% growth since 2001). Aging Actively in Burlington estimated that 11% of seniors were living in poverty: about 3300 people in 2006.
The Vital Signs 2013 report noted that in 2011, there were 29,270 seniors living in Burlington (16.9% of the population). Women comprised 57% of Burlington seniors overall.Of Burlington residents 85 years of age and older, two-thirds were women.The report noted that 5.6% of Burlington seniors had low income after tax.
The Vital Signs 2014 report noted a greater emphasis on shifting care to the community and supporting aging in place. The report noted a continued shortage of long-term care beds. With 1215 long-term care spaces, on average, people in basic rooms were waiting over a year and a half before getting admitted. Volunteer-based services for seniors with dementia was a growing area and more resources were provided by family members and caregivers dealing with individuals with dementia.
Clearly, the situation has not improved. We have a growing proportion of seniors who need support with a growing long-term care home wait list: “Since 2013, long-term care home wait lists have increased by 20.7%. The number of people on wait lists is more than double the number of available spaces.” Ontario’s Enhanced Long-Term Care Strategy will increase the number of long-term care beds by 2025.
In researching Ontario’s Enhanced Long-Term Care Home Renewal Strategy, extending the maximum long-term care (LTC) licence term from 25 to 30 years for homes that “redevelop” is one of the strategies to improve LTC. The report notes that the “ministry is working to create 15,000 new spaces and redevelop 15,000 older spaces to modern design standards and introduce virtual long-term care to address capacity pressures in the health care system.” A July 2019 report with recommendations about areas for improvement noted that 18 recommendations had been implemented and 40 others were underway. In June 2019, the provincial government announced the creation of a standalone ministry dedicated to long-term care. The provincial Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care site, https://www.health.gov.on.ca/en/, includes a search feature in the section “Find a long-term care home,” where you can find information about the homes and number of beds.
The Ontario Long Term Care Association, on its website https://oltca.com/, notes that “Over the next 20 years, it is anticipated that there will be twice as many seniors over the age of 75…Today, we are seeing the symptoms of a system at the brink: hospitals overflowing with individuals who have no place else to go and a wait list for long-term care reaching almost 33,000. At the same time, nearly half of Ontario’s long-term care homes need to be renovated or rebuilt by 2025.”
Some groups who are working on how to care for our aging population that you may not be aware of include the Change Foundation, the Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement, and the Schlegel-UW Research Institute for Aging. The Change Foundation is “an independent health policy think-tank that works to inform positive change in Ontario’s health care system.” The Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement is “a not-for-profit organization funded by Health Canada, dedicated to accelerating health care improvement.” The Schlegel-UW Research Institute for Aging is “a charitable foundation dedicated to enhancing care and quality of life for older adults.” The descriptions of these organizations all seem to infer that perhaps adding long-term care beds is not the only or best option. Our seniors certainly deserve good healthcare, a comfortable and homey place to live, and the necessary support to live their lives happily and with dignity and respect.
We are grateful to the Burlington Foundation for their work on the Vital Signs reports. They provide snapshots of moments in time, with opportunities to reflect on where we’ve been and project where we are headed. Burlington is definitely a growing community, with an aging population. We, our parents, our children, and future generations will need a caring community with a variety of housing and care options to support us as we age.
