Oct. is Community Support month

News Release
OCSA

As Community Support Month in Ontario kicks off, clients and care workers together have one message to deliver: Home and Community Support is critical in helping family caregivers and supporting seniors and persons with physical disabilities in their own homes.
However there is a need to drastically increase these services to cope with wait lists and the growing demand for services. Caregivers are stretched to the limit and agencies are feeling the pressure. Agencies have lost 23% of their spending power over the past 10 years as government funding has not kept pace with inflation, let alone expand the current programs needed to meet the growing demand.
Why These Services are Critical
Notes one caregiver, Judy, in Toronto: “My mother recently died after being in hospital for more than two months. My father is 92 years old and still lives in the family home. Between going back and forth to the hospital and worrying about him at home alone, I was at the end of my rope.
“I don’t know what I would have done without the support and services provided by the Community Support Service agency, SPRINT, (Senior Peoples’ Resources in North Toronto). For two hours a day, five days a week, a personal support worker (PSW) goes to my father’s house to make him dinner, do his laundry, change his bed, and ensure he is safe. Dad says ‘they are great company.’ I know I can count on these precious PSWs and their care allows me to continue to earn a living.”
Community Support agencies provide crucial services like adult/Alzheimer day programs, attendant services for persons with physical disabilities, Meals on Wheels, personal care and home support, transportation to medical appointments and supportive housing programs.
-These services are integral to the continuity of care for people in a well-functioning health care system keeping seniors out of hospital or the ER. They prevent or delay admission to long-term care homes.
-Providing services for persons with disabilities means they get to their educational institutions or to their workplaces and can be contributing members of their community. There are currently about 6,000 people in Ontario on wait list for Attendant Services. People are inappropriately waiting in hospitals, long-term care homes or with aging parents who cannot cope any longer because there is insufficient government funding to meet the needs.
The demand for community support continues to grow as our population ages. Caregivers can burn-out with the burdens placed upon them caring for a loved one.
“We need to ensure the Government is sustaining and nurturing these services by appropriately funding the agencies. Home and Community Supports are critical to helping people stay where they want to be: in their own homes. It will be difficult to build capacity in these programs to deal with the senior’s tsunami, after the wave hits us.” said Claude Tremblay, President of the Ontario Community Support Association (OCSA).
That’s Why We Care. And Why Everyone in Ontario Should Too!
October is Community Support Month. The following events are scheduled for October:
-October 8th: Client Intervention and Assistance Day
-6-12th: Meals on Wheels Week
- October 15th: Respite Services Day
-October 13th-19th: Community Care Worker Week
-October 20th: Transportation Service Day
-October 20th-26th: Adult Day Program Week
-October 21st: Supportive Housing Day
-October 22nd: Friendly Visiting/Telephone Reassurance Day
-October 23rd: Home Help/Home Maintenance Day
To locate community care in your area, please go to: www.homeandcommunitysupport.ca
The Ontario Community Support Association (OCSA) is the voice of home and community support services across Ontario. Across the province, a million people of all ages receive community support services each year. These important, cost-effective services prevent unnecessary hospitalizations, emergency room admissions and premature institutionalization.