“The number one issue for senior’s housing is affordability,” said Mr. Dan Levitt, the BC Seniors Advocate. He says a solution to this would be for the government to build more [seniors] subsidized housing, as well as increase the seniors living subsidies.
A type of seniors housing is assisted living. It was established in 2002 as a solution for seniors who require some non-medical assistance (cleaning, cooking, some personal care) but are able to generally manage on their own. It is desirable for some, particularly after a spouse has passed and they dislike living alone.
According to the office of the BC Seniors Advocate in a 2023 report, there are 206 assisted living facilities in BC — 136 of them are publicly funded and there are 70 private facilities. Examples of organizations who operate assisted living facilities in Kamloops and the province are Interior Health, Chartwell LP and Retirement Concepts. IH is public and the other two are private.
While in theory, assisted living is a good solution for those needing non-medical help, it has several issues that need correcting. The previous BC Seniors Advocate, Isobel Mackenzie conducted a thorough investigation of the conditions of assisted living facilities in BC in 2023.
In her report, she found that affordability was a major issue in both private and public facilities, with the average fee of publicly subsidized living was $1468/month and the median client contribution was $1275/month.
Photo credit: BC Seniors Advocate, 2023.
Photo credit: BC Seniors Advocate, 2023.
In private facilities, the average monthly costs range between $2700-$4500. According to Mackenzie, the lack of affordability prematurely forces residents to move into long-term care because it’s more economical.
There is exponential need to build new assisted living facilities, since according to Mackenzie, the government has not made any commitments to build more since 2002. Mackenzie’s report identified 785 clients waiting to move into assisted living as of March 2022.
Mackenzie also identified that residents living in assisted living facilities are not protected by the Residential Tenancy Branch, which makes them vulnerable to rent increases they cannot afford, putting them at risk for homelessness.
The previous BC Seniors Advocate, Mackenzie, also identified lack of clarity regarding the role and purpose of assisted living: “…Operators and the regulators need to…know what is assisted living, what is not and what services, oversight and protections apply to whom.”
In an interview with the current BC Seniors Advocate, Mr. Dan Levitt, he said he met seniors who were maintaining their cars but no longer had licenses:
“I wondered, why are they maintaining their vehicles if they can no longer drive them and when I asked, they said, ‘In case I need to live in it.”
Dr. Karen Elon-Perry is a Medical Anthropologist who earned her PhD in Medical Anthropology from the University of Victoria. She conducted a study in 2020 where she interviewed residents, care aides, and LPNs in assisted living facilities.
In the study, the same issue of affordability was echoed. Some LPNs and care aides reported residents using towels as incontinence pads or for wound care because they couldn’t afford it or “skipping meals not included in basic food packages.”
Nava, a resident whom Dr. Perry interviewed said, “They charge for every little thing [even assisting with eye drops].”
Nancy Andrews, an LPN with 12 years of experience in the field said, “It doesn’t matter how much you care. If the client can’t pay, we’re not allowed to provide the service.” Andrews is a Community Care Supervisor with Interior Health. Andrews referred to this type of situation as “moral injury.”
“Most people who get into healthcare do so because they care,” said Andrews. She stated that when HCW’s are legally unable to provide the care their residents require, it creates stress for them.
She provided an example of the exorbitant costs to clients they serve in assisted living where a client needed their meal tray delivered to their room, but that’s against WorkSafe policy. When Andrews’ care aide told the facility staff delivering the tray was against IH policy, the facility worker tried to pressure the IH worker to deliver the tray because the facility would have to charge the resident.
“I find it concerning that private assisted living care aides are concerned about extra costs for clients,” said Andrews.
She also said that health care workers are at extreme risk of burnout. She feels that the health authority sets up their workers to fail by extreme worker shortages and heavy workloads, which results in errors and then the health authority blames the worker. She said that HCW’s are leaving bedside nursing after 1-2 years because of burnout.
“We do not trust that the health authority or the College will have our back. If…[an issue]…comes up, we will be the ones thrown under the bus.” She provided an example of an LPN who went to provide community care for a client, and it was discovered that the client was being sexually inappropriate towards the workers. He allegedly went to record a video of her with his phone, so she lifted the medical chart over her face to avoid being recorded. She allegedly bumped his hand and knocked the phone from the clients. The client then filed a complaint that the worker hit him, and the LPN was disciplined by the BC College of Nurses and Midwives (BCCNM).
“Healthcare workers face a lot of traumatic situations and don’t get enough support,” said Andrews.
Barbara Nederpel is the President of the Hospital Employees Union. She is a Licensed Practical Nurse and has several years’ experience on the frontlines before being elected as the HEU President. Nederpel confirmed Andrews’ statements:
“HCW’s feel they are not able to provide the proper care that the residents deserve. [Due to staff shortages] the care is rushed.” She said that HCW’s carry that burden with them, “No matter how much they do, [they feel] it’s not good enough.”
Nederpel continued, “The issue is that there aren’t enough HCW’s, and you can’t create one overnight.” She emphasized that the lack of workers meant lower quality care for the residents because there’s less time. It also puts the workers at risk for injury.
Nederpel also said some of her main concerns regarding the environment of assisted living are occupational health and safety, as well as the lack of standardized pay for care aides and LPNs in public versus private settings. “HCW’s are at the highest risk of injury than any other sector.” A statistics report in 2022 conducted by WorkSafe BC confirmed this fact.
Nederpel said she fully supports publicly funded and delivered care and does not believe that private facilities should exist. She expressed concerns that private companies pocket the profit from government contracts, while providing less care for more money.
“When profit trumps [clients] needs, that’s not okay,” said Nederpel. She said she believes that the public system can provide more affordable care for clients.
When asked what possible solutions might be for these issues, she stated that while the current government created a program to provide free tuition for care aides, there is a lot more work to be done.
Both Andrews and Nederpel said that the severe healthcare worker shortage must be addressed, services need to be more affordable for clients, and to do so through publicly funded, publicly delivered facilities.
“The private sector has done absolutely nothing to prove that they can do it better, cheaper, or safer, with better outcomes. We can [provide care] cheaper…publicly. Period.”
To summarize, necessary actions that need to be taken are that the seniors subsidy funding needs to be increased. Additionally, more subsidized housing, especially assisted living facilities need to be built. Those facilities need to be publicly funded and delivered. Residents need access to essential supplies without extra costs. Assisted living residents also need protection under the Residential Tenancy Act to avoid risk of homelessness. The government also needs to find ways to attract more people to work in healthcare and retain them through sufficient staffing and employee wellness programs and training. These actions need to be taken as soon as possible because of the increasing number of aging Baby Boomers.
Rebekah Schulte Photo: Barb Nederpel, President of BEU.
It’s missing a LEAD, explaining what the story is about.
About this information: A type of seniors housing is assisted living. It was established in 2002 as a solution for seniors who require some non-medical assistance (cleaning, cooking, some personal care) but are able to generally manage on their own. It is desirable for some, particularly after a spouse has passed and they dislike living alone.
>>>> Was the term ‘assisted living’ created in 2002, or the specific place you’re talking about? Need to make it clear.