Waterloo MPP Catherine Fife is asking out the provincial minister of long-term care for her feedback on Fife’s Until Loss of life Do Us Half invoice that goals to maintain Ontario {couples} collectively.
Minister Natalia Kusendova-Bashta was in Kitchener Wednesday afternoon to have fun the opening of a brand new long-term care house within the metropolis referred to as The Village of Winston Park on Block Line Highway.
Throughout her go to, CBC requested Kusendova-Bashta to touch upon why she hasn’t moved on a legislation that would hold {couples} collectively in long-term care (LTC) houses.
“We have already got a spousal reunification program inside our long-term care ready checklist,” the minister mentioned.
“As I’ve travelled throughout the province, I’ve heard success tales of {couples} being reunited, not solely spouses being reunited, but additionally relations being reunited by way of this system that we have already got.”
Lengthy-Time period Care Minister Natalia Kusendova-Bashta was at The Village of Winston Park in Kitchener, Ont. on Wednesday to have fun the opening of the brand new long-term care house. (Grant Linton/CBC)
Fife says the present system is “callous and doesn’t acknowledge the significance of companions or married {couples} staying collectively.”
“The minister of long-term care ought to take her rose-coloured glasses off fairly truthfully,” mentioned Fife after studying a transcript of Kusendova-Bashta’s feedback.
Fife first launched the invoice in Nov. 27, 2019 and it handed second studying in December of that yr, transferring it to the committee stage for assessment. That model of the invoice died when the provincial legislature was prorogued in 2021. The invoice was then re-introduced in March 2022, however it died when the provincial election was held in June.
“Residents who’ve been separated from their companions for years, months, they describe the psychological anguish and their decline of their well-being, each bodily and mentally,” Fife mentioned.
“[The spousal reunification program] on paper, seems to be like a superb program. However the truth of the matter is, is that we’re not designing care campuses in order that seniors can keep collectively.”
Fife says she needs to assist design techniques of care that acknowledge companions and spouses do not age on the similar price.
Kusendova-Bashta says long-term care beds are at the moment reserved for residents who’ve “highest acuity wants who can not be supported at house,” including that solely people who find themselves eligible for long-term care will likely be allowed to reunite with a partner who’s already dwelling at a long-term care house.
