Vera sat in the easy chair in her room and allowed her mind to wander to the many times she’d felt she had no control of her life. Even when her physical body could bounce back, she’d struggled emotionally with the feeling before. Her mind took her back to when her first husband left her with two young children to raise and a dining room table full of bills.The troubles they’d suffered when her oldest son was a teenager made her shudder as she thought of them. She remembered lying in bed, shaking with fear at what the next day might bring. She thought of when her second husband developed cancer and the dread of the disease returning hovered every day. Then it did return and eventually took him, and nothing she could do could stop it.
Each time, her faith had sustained her, friends had encouraged her and she had come out stronger and wiser.
But none of those experiences had prepared her for where she found herself today.
It began when she reached for her coffee cup in the upper cupboard one morning. A wave of dizziness hit her and she began to fall. She grabbed for the counter and missed, crashing to the kitchen floor and hitting her head on a cupboard door on the way down. She’d used the alert button she wore around her neck and the ambulance came quickly, but she knew by the pain in her arm and leg that there were broken bones. A fracture in her leg and one in her shoulder, as well as a possible concussion from the head wound had got her admitted to hospital. Her diabetes, which may have caused the dizziness, needed stabilizing and everything added up to weeks in hospital, first in the ward and then in the rehab section.
From the start she realized she wouldn’t be able to live alone again, and her family made application to long-term-care. Her children had visited and chosen three places, the closest of which was across the road from her oldest daughter. It wasn’t a change in her life that she desired, but she determined to embrace the inevitable and maintain a positive attitude. She appreciated her children and didn’t want to make this any harder on them.
But long-term-care application is a process, and not one you can hurry. 
“Young or old, staying in hospital if you’re cleared for discharge to available care elsewhere could cost you $400 a day as the Ontario government tries to free up beds for the expected fall and winter surge of COVID-19 and flu. And seniors can be moved to nursing homes not of their choosing as far as 70 km. away in southern Ontario–or 150 km away in the north–to await for a bed at their preferred long-term-care facility closer to home and loved ones.” 1.
So here she sat, alone. Miles from family and friends and as lonely as she’d ever been. The case worker said she was on the list for long-term-care, but it could take a year to 18 months to be placed in one of the homes of her choice. Her children tried to call, but their weekends were filled with their young children and their activities, and they hadn’t been able to visit yet. She felt guilty even asking. The drive was long and the cost of gas expensive.
Tears coursed down her cheeks. She still determined to make the best of it, but the times stretched in front of her like an unattainable goal.
Time. She was old. Did she have 18 months to wait?
Friends, Vera is fictional. Those who read me regularly know that I never touch on the political, but this decision by our Ontario government literally made me cry for the elders caught in this situation. I understand the need to clear hospitals, and I’ve never met an elder who wanted to stay a day longer than they needed to. But why not look at more funding for long-term-care? More beds, more and better trained staff, more homes where the elder’s voice is heard.
Think about it.
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- https://www.thestar.com/politics/provincial/2022/09/14/ford-government-will-charge-400-a-day-for-long-term-care-patients-who-wont-leave-hospital.html?rf&source=newsletter&utm_source=ts_nl&utm_medium=email&utm_email=2A9F6A9C9A5D799E720493A5384EB384&utm_campaign=frst_144806