ECA Review 2021-02-04

6 February 4'21 HANNA/CORONATION/STETTLer, AB. ECA REVIEW
OPINION
The opinions expressed are not necessarily
the opinions of this newspaper.
EDITORIAL
The fallacy
of efficiency
Brenda Schimke
ECA Review
How is it more cost effective to subsidize
private businesses than directly
support our seniors in long-term care
facilities?
Who truly benefits when a profitseeking
middle man sits between
government tax dollars and senior’s
care?
A growing body of evidence clearly
shows that the type of ownership matters
in senior’s care.
Dr. Margaret McGregor, clinical
associate professor at UBC and Dr. Pat
Armstrong, distinguished research
professor at York University, were
recent guests on a
webinar sponsored
“
by the Friends of
Medicare and Public
Interest Alberta.
What they
reported was not
surprising or new to
me. My mother and I
had lived that
reality for 10 years.
After losing her husband,
my father, and
going blind in one
eye, she asked if it
was all right for her
to move close to us. We were delighted
and she chose a for-profit Rivera
facility blocks from our home.
Money was not the issue, neither at
that time, care. The in-house meals
were splendid, the entertainment,
daily exercises, community tours,
church services and social activities
were very good. Even the fact that my
mother was able to walk two blocks to
a shopping centre gave her freedom
and independence.
Then, it was not.
When extensive care became necessary,
my mother’s care was
increasingly inhumane. I regularly
begged Home Care to move her, they
regretfully advised that until she
broke some bones, she would never get
moved.
And that’s just what happened. A
broken shoulder, hip reconstruction
and 100 days between three acute care
hospitals was what it took for her to
escape.
Thankfully her last nine months of
life was in Coronation’s long-term care
facility, publicly-owned and operated,
where she received excellent and compassionate
care.
Senior care needs range from
independent to fragile. The higher the
staff levels and the lower the staff turnover,
the better the care for those who
are completely dependent on others.
Regular and familiar caregivers provide
‘relational care’, they know what
will and will not please their patients,
resulting in more positive outcomes
and lower mortality rates.
Even more important, they have
some time to just chit chat with our
loved ones.
COVID-19 showed everyone just how
poorly provinces have managed longterm
care and the absolute need for
national standards under the Canada
Health Care Act. COVID deaths and
inhumane care are higher and more
tragic in forprofit
care
facilities.
It also
exposed the
lie of ‘efficiency’
preached by
private sector
providers,
when in fact,
efficiency is
simply cutting
staff and
lowering
standards of
care. A large body of literature shows
for-profit facilities have the lowest
ratio of caregiver to patient and are
staffed by low-paid, temporary
workers.
Efficient is simply code for siphoning
as much taxpayer dollars as possible
into shareholder returns.
Again, the question becomes, how
does a middle man actually enhance
the care of our most fragile seniors?
Of course, the answer is, it doesn’t.
My mom’s time at a for-profit facility
while she was able to take care of herself
was splendid—I have nothing but
praise. But the fact that it became an
inhumane prison with inadequate care
once she couldn’t take care of herself
highlights where private and public
delivery of senior’s care should start
and end.
My dad, unlike my mom, could make
his own choice. When the decision was
to either have an open- heart surgery,
and because of his previous stroke, live
out his remaining life in a nursing
home, he chose death.
My dad was the lucky one, whereas
my mom was the victim of profittakers
and the ‘fallacy of efficiency’
when caring for fragile seniors.
When extensive
care became necessary,
my mother’s care was
increasingly
inhumane.
“
MAIL BAG
UCP, a party that is
suspicious, secretive
and paranoid
Dear Editor,
The United Conservative party came
to power in Alberta with a promise of
sound financial management, accountability,
openness, social and
environmental responsibility, standing
up to Ottawa, and of course, they
needed to purge the dreaded socialists
from power.
What did we get? A party that is suspicious,
secretive, paranoid and throws
money after everything that looks like
it’s sanctioned by the Fraser Institute.
And a government that was the
recipient of the Award for Outstanding
Achievement in Government Secrecy
given by the Canadian Association of
Journalists.
Let me give you three examples out
of many that I could have used.
The $30 million Canadian Energy
Centre operates outside of the Freedom
of Information Act and does not have
to account for where the money goes.
Its goal is supposedly to counter antioil
critics, (supposedly foreign
environment activists), and promote
the oil and gas industry.
It costs the taxpayer roughly $82,000
a day.
The Fair Deal Panel has at least five
panel members that are tied to the
Wildrose Party and/or the Fraser
Institute.
Preston Manning, Drew Barnes,
Moin Yaha, Miranda Rosin, the Banff/
Kananaskis MLA who favours two tier
medicine and the globe trotting Tony
Yao, MLA from Ft McMurray who
didn’t want to stay home during
COVID shutdown.
I quit looking after that.
So much for an unbiased report.
As a third example, I refer to the
Steven Allan Inquiry that just picked
up another $1 million to supplement
the $2.5 million seed money to begin
the inquiry.
The purpose of the inquiry is to find
out who is funding the environmental
movement in the province.
Three contributors to the panel were
paid handsomely for their input.
I didn’t know that you could get paid
to appear at an inquiry. One could
make it an occupation, and it looks like
some do.
All of this to produce a couple of useless
reports that any student with
average computer skills could produce
in an afternoon for the price of a can of
pop and a couple of caramel doughnuts
from Blokes Bakery.
To prove my point; I am a senior
who’s first school had a horse barn and
a couple of two seater outhouses, so my
computer skills are below average, but
I do know how to call on Dr. Google to
find information when I need it.
I wanted to know where the Fraser
Institute gets its funding.
The Fraser Institute is populated
with a house full of right leaning politicians
and economists.
With a handful of exceptions, the
kind of people that would probably be
at the top of the list to be tossed from a
life boat if you needed to preserve food.
They would be given the opportunity
to save themselves if they could prove
that they had some useful skills like
maybe sewing, or planting seeds or
baking bread.
The Institute promotes a right wing
philosophy and produces papers on
education, environment, aboriginal
affairs health, and a half a dozen other
areas.
I was particularly interested
because a good number of the political
power brokers in Alberta are all tied
to the Fraser Institute: Preston
Manning, Stephen Harper, Tom
Flanagan, Ezra Levant, Danielle Smith
and Jason Kenny, if not a member, at
least by association.
Turn to Where, Pg 7
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