Letter - Senior homes need dollars

To the editor:

The following is an open letter to Minster of Health Deb Matthews.

I am a 94-year-old resident of the Hogarth Riverview Manor nursing home at 300 North Lillie Street in Thunder Bay. 

Although my body does not do all the things it used to do many years ago, my mind, my brain and my spirit are doing very well and I am still quite active with all my faculties.

It struck me that as a senior resident of this nursing home, that more services are required to care for the elderly, the sick and for those who cannot care for themselves. 

Staffing has been cut back so drastically that we only have two staff persons to get the 24 residents up each morning; there are 24 residents in my section. Most of them use a machine lift to get them out of bed, and the staff must wash/bathe them, help them to the bathroom for grooming and get them to the breakfast dining area, dressed and ready to start the day. 

Only two staff persons to handle all that work is impossible and unacceptable! When I ask why there isn’t more assistance, I am told “cutbacks” is the reason. 

So I decided to take the initiative to write to you to request your government look at senior care more carefully and add more budget dollars to this special area of care. 

Certainly, the ministry has funds which could be allotted to these much-needed services for all homes for the aged.

Staffing needs to be increased so our resident needs are met adequately and appropriately and also so that we are careful to not make our current staff workers stressed out – making them sick and unable to continue their job because they are working so hard, sometimes it is more than they can handle.

I hope there is a positive future for all senior citizens; a future which holds a safe place to call home, a place where our special needs are met with care, compassion and respect.  Each individual deserves to be treated fairly until their death. 

Financial programs and budget adjustments need to be made to ensure sufficient finances are adequately funded and in place for the current and future needs of the homes for the aged.  
We do not need further cutbacks. To place any further stress on this fragile system would jeopardize our health and well being.


Martha Hamilton,
Thunder Bay