The David Thompson Health Advisory Council (DTHAC) has made a number of recommendations to Alberta Health Services aimed at improving health-care service for seniors in West Central Alberta.The DTHAC, one of a dozen councils in the province, covers the Central Zone municipalities of Olds, Innisfail, Sundre, Red Deer, Rocky Mountain House and surrounding area. Its mandate includes gathering public input on the state of health care and reporting back to the Alberta Health.The DTHAC has been hosting information-gathering sessions in the region. Through that consultation process ñ including presentations by the Central Alberta Council on Aging and from Mountain View Seniors' Housing ñ the council has identified two main challenges facing seniors in the Central Zone, council chairman Bruce Buruma told the Gazette.In a recent briefing letter to Alberta Health Services, the council said those challenges are:ï Lack of equitable capacity to manage the growing list for seniors waiting to be placed in facilities that match their care needs.ï Lack of consistent practices for funding and assessment between zones resulting in a lack of appropriate staff and inadequate staffing levels, with models used for staffing being varied and inconsistent across the zones.ìGrowing wait lists for seniors to be placed in the appropriate supportive living facilities as well as varying assessment and funding models are directly affecting seniors' care needs not being met, which also has a significant impact on their families,î said DTHAC vice-chair Diana Rowe, who authored the briefing letter.ìFunding has also severely impacted the ability to have the on-site care required for seniors resulting in increased stress on the seniors, the staff and our medical system.îA number of factors are believed to be contributing to the ongoing challenges, she said.ìFrom the broader lens, the inability to ensure patients age in the right place is merely a symptom of the large picture and this is recognized by the council,î she said.ìDue to capacity issues across the system, patients, particularly seniors, are often inappropriately placed in facilities that do not reflect the level of care they require. This results in significant inefficiencies, reduced capacity of the overall system and not meeting the needs of the patients.îIn response to concerns brought forward through the consultation process, the council has put forward the following four recommendations to Alberta Health Services:ï A long-term plan that would increase the service capacity for senior residents to access continuing care services locally in the Central Zone.ï Increase funding to support age-in-place programs.ï Strengthen the relationship between Alberta Health Services and service partners to ensure models of care are consistent and equitable.ï Increased communication to communities of Alberta Health Services' long-term vision for seniors' care facilities.ìWe recognize that seniors' health and a lot of the lodging issues around that are significant issues,î said Buruma.In a response letter to the council, Kerry Bales, vice-president of Central Zone Alberta Health Services, said Alberta Health is already working to address seniors' health concerns raised by the DTHAC.For example, Bales says more than 300 continuing care spaces will be brought online in the Central Zone by the end of 2011.ìThis is having a positive impact on continuing care services access as evidenced by a 20 per cent reduction in people waiting for placement over the past four months,î said Bales.As of the end of March, Central Zone had 122 beds per population of seniors 75 years of age and older, exceeding the Alberta Health Services provincial target of 120.ìWe are aware, however, that ongoing planning is required to ensure reasonable access to appropriate services throughout Central Zone so seniors can stay connected with their families, friends and communities,î said Bales.As well, Bales said a number of pilot projects aimed at improving seniors' health services are now underway in the Central Zone.Those initiatives include one that is ìstudying what improvements can be made when specialized home-care nurses are available in emergency departments to connect seniors with home care and community supports rather than admitting to acute care when not required.îìThese pilots are having positive impacts in terms of reducing the number of seniors presenting at emergency departments, being admitted to acute care, and returning to emergency departments or acute care because they do not receive appropriate home care and community supports,î said Bales.Despite the ongoing efforts to improve seniors' health services in the zone, Bales says ìmore needs to be done to ensure there is equitable access to services across the entire province so seniors can remain at home and be as independent as possible.îGerald Ingeveld, a Sundre member of the DTHAC, said he expects consultations to continue in the region until at least the fall.
