PrintWho will live in Bethany Didsbury?
The public was invited to an unveiling of Bethany Care’s long-anticipated new centre on January 25. Present were numerous representatives from many of the agencies who have worked together to develop this project. This included the CEO of Bethany Care Society, Greer Black, an architect from BKDI Architects, Alberta Health, and Alberta Seniors.
The architects’ conceptual drawing of Bethany Didsbury’s 100-bed, private suite, care centre is impressive. The facility will add another, much-needed layer of accommodation for the community.
But, who will live in Bethany Didsbury? For more than a decade, community members have valiantly tried to find a replacement for the old and decrepit nursing home (long-term care) on the west side of the Didsbury hospital. The community was therefore hopeful when Bethany Care Society appeared in November 2010.
However, there is still absolutely no guarantee that any of this community’s most frail and vulnerable residents will be housed in the new facility. At present, Alberta Health promises only that the facility will be “designed and built” to accommodate nursing home calibre residents - if it becomes necessary to do so at some point in the future. At this time, Alberta Health only guarantees the continuation of the 21-bed long-term care spaces currently housed in Unit 1 of the Didsbury hospital.
Alberta Health Services will use a “Resident Assessment Instrument” to categorize current and future residents of both facilities. This assessment tool measures the workload necessary for staffing purposes, and it gives Alberta Health Services a way to downgrade existing services.
When Bethany Didsbury becomes operational in 2014, many of the long-term care residents (approximately 67 per cent) will be re-categorized from “nursing home” status (which is currently highly regulated and funded) to “supportive living” status. This percentage has been calculated based on the number of long-term beds that are being guaranteed, compared to the number of current residents.
The Government of Alberta has funded this private operator project with $10 million. Even so, Greer Black says there is no firm plan in place, at the moment, to house “nursing home” residents. The staffing and budgeting requirements for this type of care are higher than for “supportive living” residents.
Costs and responsibilities to the residents will rise. Since Bethany Didsbury will only have private rooms, costs to the residents will be based on the current rate for a private room in a long-term care facility. At this time that rate is $1,700 per month.
The Affordable Supportive Living Initiative (ASLI) that approved the $10 million grant to Bethany Care Society has stipulated that Bethany Care has to maintain an “affordable” accommodation fee for 20 years. ASLI has also said this room fee “should not exceed the regulated private room rate for long-term care facilities.”(George VanderBurg, Minister of Seniors)
However, with the proposed downgrading of this category of resident provincewide, and with the elimination of the Nursing Home Act under the new Alberta Health Act, this current cap on fees is in serious jeopardy (the new act is awaiting Proclamation.)
In addition to private room fee costs, residents in Bethany Didsbury will be responsible for all medications and incontinence supplies. They will be required to provide their own transportation to appointments (including physiotherapy, speech language pathology, and occupational therapy). Residents will also be required to find their own doctor.
Although there will be 24-hour staffing, there will only be a Registered Nurse case manager on site during business hours. Personal care services (such as assistance with bathing, dressing, grooming) will be funded by Alberta Health Care, but only to those who qualify. Otherwise, residents will pay out of pocket for extra services.
As Belle Gowriluk from Alberta Health Services was quick to point out several times at this open house, “there are no guarantees” regarding who will be housed in the new facility. Unless Bethany Didsbury is mandated by Alberta Health to provide accommodation for “nursing home” status residents, Didsbury may still be looking at long wait- lists. And we may still be forced to warehouse our most frail loved ones in some faraway facility.
Marilyn Logan
Didsbury
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