Feature Article May 1, 2003
LAND O' LAKES NewsWeb HomeNo support yet for residents of Sharbot Lake Seniors Homeby Jeff Green
A decision by the County of Frontenac has put off any hopes of providing financial relief for individuals in privately run seniors homes in Frontenac County until a long-awaited report from a task force under the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care is released, but that report has been pending since last year and there has been no date set for its release.
A staff report to County Council was prepared in response to a request in February by Dr. Peter Bell, owner of the Sharbot Lake Seniors Home (SLSH), to enter into a domiciliary agreement. Domiciliary agreements are designed to subsidize room and board costs for low-income people with special needs.
In early 1998, the Sharbot Lake Seniors Home had entered into a domiciliary agreement that was to have been funded by the Ministry of Community and Social Services, but the entire program was frozen before SLSH could make use of it. When the program was reinstated on a limited basis, the agreement with the Seniors Home was lost.
The monthly cost to residents at the Sharbot Lake home is $1275, leaving people who have only Canada Pension benefits with no way of paying the full fee. The burden of care for these people necessarily falls to their families in these cases. They either must care for their relatives or subsidise them out of their own pockets, Dr. Bell told the News.
The funding sought amounts to $10 a day of the $42 per day charged by the Seniors Home. Under the domiciliary agreement, 80% of that $10 would be covered by the province and 20% by the county.
Meanwhile, for the past two years a Mental Health Implementation Task Force of the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care has been undertaking a broad program review. The review is said to be considering including domiciliary hostels in a proposed program - Homes For Persons With Special Needs, which may include low-income seniors requiring housing.
In the meantime, the Frontenac County staff report said Until the [Ministry of Health and Long Term Care] report is released, it is clear that provincial funding support will not be made available to support any new County initiatives, and also cited concerns about any obligations/responsibilities/liabilities that may accrue to the County as a result of direct financial support offered to an operator.
The staff report recommended waiting until the Ministry report is released.
When the issue came before County Council, Central Frontenac Mayor Bill MacDonald argued the County should do something now for low income residents in the Sharbot Lake Home, and he proposed Council set up a small fund, as low as $5,000, for the Sharbot Lake Seniors Home to draw on to help needy seniors.
MacDonalds proposal was defeated in a tie vote. It was supported by North Frontenac Mayor Stan Johnston, but Mayor VandenHoek of the Frontenac Islands and South Frontenac Phil Leonard voted against it. Instead, the staff report was accepted as submitted.
Afterwards, Bill MacDonald said we need to face up to the fact that private homes are a part of the solution to the crisis in Seniors care that we are now facing.
The cost of care at the County-owned Fairmount Home for the Aged is estimated at $4,620 per month, but low-income residents are eligible for subsidy, enabling them to pay as little as $900 per month.
The Pine Meadow Nursing Home, a not for-profit, community-owned nursing home in Northbrook, charges residents $1445 per month for room and board, and is also able to access subsidy dollars for low-income residents. Nursing costs at Pine Meadow are paid by the Ministry of Long Term Care.
Private Seniors Homes, like the one in Sharbot Lake, receive no provincial funding and residents are not eligible for government subsidy. Any nursing care that is provided is not funded at all.
I think there has to be an awakening that the private providers are serving a need. I wanted the county to support a simple request. Im a great believer in saying, lets stop the studying, and get on to doing something, said Bill MacDonald.
