Issues on the minds of Kimberley seniors

MLA hosts seniors' forum

By CAROLYN GRANT

Columbia River - Revelstoke MLA Norm Macdonald was in Kimberley last Thursday to host a seniors furm, and he came away from the meeting with evidence that Kimberley's senors have a lot of concerns.

About 60 people showed up for the forum -- a good turnout, considering the snow, Macdonald says.

For issues specific to the Kimberley Cranbrook area, Macdonald says that seniors remain concerned over the loss of services for the past several years.

"There is still a tremendous concern about that," he said. "There are good programs, like the Seniors Helping Seniors swim program here in Kimberley yet there are funding issues. That program is going to run out of money. There are good ideas but they are not embraced.

"The lack of palliative beds is a concern. People live their whole lives in a community and then have to go somewhere else for a palliative bed. People want to visit. Even if the bed is in Cranbrook, it's difficult.

"Transportation for Kimberley seniors came up, as did concern over the quality of care in various facilities. Many said that the hospital in Cranbrook had a nice new entrance but there are still a lot of other issues that haven't been addressed."

Seniors also spoke of Pharmacare and the cost of prescription drugs and concerns around how some of them were not covered.

Macdonald and his staff also did intakes at the meeting for specific issues.

"We're very careful about confidentiality. People, especially seniors, are afraid to bring issues forward, sometimes becouse they have a spouse or parent in a facility. Or they do identify issues and then nothing seems to happen.

"It was a very meaningful meeting," he said. "There are problems all over the riding that we are hearing about.

"The reality is there is a tremendous imbalance of power in place now. People in facilities are quite vulnerable. We need to do a far better job with seniors is care."

The NDP is looking for support from seniors on two pieces of legislation for the coming session, which begins this week.

One is the idea of a seniors' representative -- an officer of the legislature similar to the Children's Advocate of the Auditor General.

Macdonald says an independent representative like this would be helpful for issues such as some of things happening in care facilities that are totally unacceptable.

"The other idea is to amend the existing act around seniors's care," he said . "People have been clear in their concerns that there aren't proper inspections. This amendment would require yearly unannounced inspections at care facilities and the results would be made public.

"These are ideas we are putting forward. If there is enough public pressure, maybe the government will use them. If the NDP were in power, we would put them in place."