In a “normal” year, Quesnel residents show up in great numbers for the Remembrance Day ceremonies at our Cenotaph. The pandemic made this community gathering impossible this year and the Legion made the correct decision to hold a smaller indoor ceremony to remember and celebrate our veterans.
But, in this abnormal year, our inability to gather together for a Remembrance Day ceremony provides us with an opportunity to think more deeply about how we honour and celebrate not just our veterans, but all our elders all year long.
Anyone paying attention to the evolution of this pandemic knows that seniors have been particularly vulnerable to the virus and the highest proportion of COVID-related deaths have been in this demographic, particularly those seniors living in institutional settings. The pandemic has provided morbid evidence of what Senior’s Advocates have been saying for too long: our seniors care institutions are underfunded, understaffed, under resourced, and under scrutinized by outside agencies.
Supports for seniors living outside of public and private institutions are also scarce, leaving too many seniors vulnerable to ill-health, abuse, and isolated living conditions. Supports for families who are doing what they can to care for their ageing parents are also very limited, leaving some with little recourse but to abandon their aged parents in emergency rooms in the hopes that this will force the health care system to respond to their needs.
Wait lists for senior’s care beds are getting longer, and too many seniors end up spending their last days in hospital wards ill-suited to enable them to live their final days with the dignity and grace they deserve. Referring to seniors who end up stuck in hospital beds because appropriate care is not available for them as “bed-blockers” has the effect of placing the blame on the seniors rather than the system that is failing them in their final years and days.
It’s my hope that when the new Provincial Government is sworn in with their four-year majority mandate, their promises about addressing the serious systemic issues in our senior’s care system will be a top priority. We desperately need a massive rethink and increase in funding for home care and related supports for seniors and more supportive housing for seniors across the spectrum of care (independent living, assisted living, dementia care, and long-term care).
Closer to home, Quesnel Council worked with our senior’s community to assist them to establish the North Cariboo Seniors Council and the City continues to provide support to this group as it gets established. More importantly, Quesnel City Council will constantly and continuously seek advice and direction from the Seniors Council on where it should put both its political capital and taxpayer funding to best support seniors in our region.
The North Cariboo Seniors Council has already done amazing work and has huge potential to assist our community to support our seniors in multiple ways. You can contact and volunteer with this group through their website www.caribooseniorscouncil.org or by attending their AGM (November 25, at 6:30 PM at the Seniors Centre).
Please, as you reflect on our veterans this week … extend your thoughts to our entire seniors’ community and commit to engaging in their care and support all year long and in whatever way you can.
Bob Simpson is the Mayor of Quesnel, BC. He can be reached via email here
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