The demand for PSWs will be great, yet there is no incentive to join this field of work
To the Expositor:
According to a June 21, 2013 article written by Toronto Star reporter Theresa Boyle, 91-year-old Norma Cohen (as of July 2012) had been in North York General Hospital for almost a year when her son, Howard Cohen (a doctor) was abruptly told by hospital administration that he had five days to find a long term care (LTC) placement and move his mother out of the hospital. Dr. Cohen’s first remark when approached by the media about this was to say that he thought he was being coerced into making a decision to which there had been no solution during his mother’s long stay in hospital! Of course there was the usual “no comment” from the hospital administration.
Taking into consideration that this incident is only one of thousands of similar cases taking place throughout the health care system in Ontario, consider this: the cost to Ontario taxpayers for providing one day in a hospital is $1,000, one day in LTC is $130 and one day of homecare is $55!
In 2009 the province announced plans to renovate 329 LTC facilities, but as of this date only 4,000 of the 35,000 beds in need of renewal have been approved for redevelopment.
The number of people waiting for LTC beds jumped 85 percent between 2005 and 2012—19,000 on the waiting list, but during that same time the number of beds only increased by three percent.
At this point in time 73 percent of all Ontario LTC residents have Alzheimer’s or dementia (according to a study by Metroland Media). This year the annual budget for health care is $44.4 billion. Between 2009 and 2010 only $3.24 billion was spent on LTC! According to Donna Rubin, CEO of the Ontario Association of Non-profit Homes and Services for Seniors, from 2005 to 2012 the number of Ontarians 75 years of age and older jumped by more than 20 percent. Their numbers will grow by another 30 percent by 2030!
Approximately 100,000 personal support workers (PSWs) are employed province-wide in various capacities—30,000 of them work in nursing homes. Toiling at the bottom of the nursing food chain they are the first and most intimate contact for 75,000 elderly people living in government supported nursing homes. PSWs are the “heart beat” of Ontario’s 625 public nursing homes and responsible for 75 percent of the care!
According to the Personal Support Network of Ontario, 7,000 PSWs are trained in Ontario each year—9,000 of which leave the profession yearly! According to Sharleen Stewart, SEIU (health care sector), the average wage for Ontario PSWs are as follows: In homecare, $12 to $14/hr; in LTC facilities, $17 to $20/hr; and in hospitals (very few PSWs are employed in hospitals), $20 to $25/hr.
Susan Jeffords of the Toronto Sun’s article of June 29, 2013 really put it in perspective. The story was about Millie Hickson, a dying breed of PSW. She is a career homecare PSW in southern Ontario. She has worked for 28 years. She has never made more than $15/hr, never received more than 38/km for using her own vehicle and has no pension.
The need for PSWs in the future will be huge! But can anyone really think there will be any incentive at all for young people to get into the field? No. If the province continues to ignore the drastic need to raise PSW wages, provide or increase benefits, improve working conditions and ensure that every Ontario PSW has a pension plan things will only continue to get worse!
It has been a full year since Dr. Cohen was told his mother had five days to leave. Norma Cohen is still in North York General Hospital.
Fifteen percent of all applicants pass away while on the LTC waiting lists in this province! This is shameful!
Greg Young Wikwemikong
