In a perfect world seniors could live out their finals days in a home environment with family and friends close by to offer support. Unfortunately, many seniors see the end of their lives in a hospital setting because there simply aren't enough long-term care beds in the province to prevent them from coming to the end of their lives in a less than ideal setting.
The former Conservative government recognized that seniors unable to live independent don't belong in the hospital but in long-term care facilities in which their health care needs can be looked after along with their social and recreational needs.
The Tories promised to add 1,300 long-term care beds by 2015 - of which 1,100 have been created from one end of the province to the other. As much as has been done, it's far from enough since hospitals across the province are full of seniors awaiting placement in a long-term care facility
Now, the New Democrats are being very unNDP-like by cutting the number of these beds in order to save money and help bring the budget back to balance - possibly putting the bottomline ahead of what's in the best interest of those who can no longer live on their own.
Countless governments have tried to put more emphasis into home care - having seniors live in their homes longer by providing many of the health-care services they need in a home setting as opposed to institutionalizing them in hospitals or seniors complexes.
In fact, seniors want to live in their home as long as they can and you can't fault government for trying to make this possible since living at home keeps them closer to their social support network in family and friends. And yes, it saves money.
But, Nova Scotia has a high percentage of seniors and a high number of chronic illness. Despite these illnesses seniors are living longer, placing greater stress on the health-care system. Cutting long-term care beds will not make this situation any better and could result in more acute-care beds being blocked by seniors too sick to go home.
