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NEWMARKET, Ont. – Over 200 concerned residents, their families and caregivers came together on Saturday, March 15 to express concerns and discuss a plan of action to fight the shift in services for seniors living in seven Alternative Community Living Centres (ACLs) across York Region, said the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), representing the long-term care workers who provide on-site care for seniors and disabled living in the homes.
“The community is very concerned about the lower quality of care that residents will receive as their current on-site care program is switched to a ‘hub and spoke’ model operated by a mobile unit, starting April 1,” said Doug Sheppard, spokesperson for CUPE 905. “Instead of the on-site continuous dedicated care that seniors have relied on for years, seniors are now expected to call for assistance and wait for at least 15 minutes before an off-site mobile unit will arrive. This is unacceptable and not the way we should be treating our seniors and disabled from our community.”
Currently about 225 seniors and disabled residents living in the seven York Region homes are being cared for by 90 York Region long-term care workers who provide on-site emergency and non-emergency assistance. Starting April 1, the service will be replaced by a hub-and-spoke model provided by Community and Home Assistance to Seniors (CHATS) and Care First. The switch in services is due to the provincial government’s decision to not fund the ACL program and change the care delivery model for seniors seeking care and assistance.
At the meeting, residents and their families impacted by the provincial government’s decision shared their fears and concerns over the April 1 switch and vowed to fight this change and take the issue to Queen’s Park and reverse the government’s decision.
“We will continue our campaign and rally the community in our fight to help our seniors,” continued Sheppard. “We are appealing to Premier Wynne and Health and Long-Term Care Minister Deb Matthews to reverse the decision, so an assessment and consultation process can be conducted to fully understand the impact of the government’s decision to switch care delivery models on seniors and disabled.”
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For more information, please contact:
Doug Sheppard, Unit Chair for CUPE, 905-955-6130
James Chai, CUPE Communications, 905-739-3999
