MARIE Marie ’ s mother has lived in a rural continuing care centre for seventeen months . Separation from her husband after seventy years together has been very difficult .
“ We are satisfied that the living conditions are as safe as can be expected . All the necessities of life are provided : meals , personal hygiene , temperature controls , and individual care such as assistance with mobility issues .”
Residents of the centre are lonely , particularly since the onset of COVID-19 , which has led to limited visits or completely cancelled visits , few recreational activities , and no outings .
In Alberta , senior care services are provided at several levels (
bit . ly / 3jwBpB7 ). This article is about long-term care facilities , which many people call nursing homes . A typical patient needs twenty-four-hour nursing care and often has dementia or Alzheimer ’ s disease .
Marie says some of the responsibility needs to be assumed by families and volunteers — although this is not always an option , especially right now and because Marie lives three and a half hours away from her mother ’ s facility . She mentions that a friend who lives nearby brings a fruit basket to her mother once a week . “ Our parents need our support ,” she says .
Marie recognizes that the long-term care system is facing difficult funding issues . “ I don ’ t know how to make it any better ,” she says . “ Stay positive . Instead of complaining ( even though the complaints might be legitimate ), do something like phone calls , letters , Zoom visits . What you do doesn ’ t have to be big . We can send them care packages containing some of their favourite items .”
“ The long-term care facilities are doing the best that they can ,” is Marie ’ s overall assessment .
Anita Jenkins , now retired , was born in Alberta and has lived in Edmonton since 1966 . She taught high school English for a decade and then spent more than twenty-five years operating a successful home-based writing and editing business .
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