I have been volunteering at George Pearson Centre, a long-term care facility for residents with neurological diseases or spinal cord disorders, for close to three years.
George Pearson Centre (via the Vancouver Sun)
A few days ago, during the monthly Deserts Night, I was feeding a resident when he began to talk to me about how difficult it was to sleep in his wheelchair. I was initially confused, but after I pieced out the bits of his stories together, I started to understand what he was talking about. Because the nurses at the Centre are always so busy, generally once a resident wakes up, the nurses help him or her into a wheelchair and then leave the resident in the wheelchair for the entire day until nighttime when the resident is put back into bed.
The resident I was feeding said to me dejectedly that he understood that the nurses were too busy to be able to put him back to bed whenever he was tired, but he wished that he didn’t have to sleep in his wheelchair because it was so uncomfortable.
I wasn’t of much help, but I did point out that there was a Resident Council where he could voice out his complaints and then hope that the Council would implement new policies to improve the situation.
The resident’s complaints are illustrative of the complaints against care facilities and the health care system in Canada. I found several articles from a civil rights advocate site that have targeted specifically George Pearson Centre. Incorporating the feedback from a former resident of George Pearson, the articles describe how many residents have limited freedom and cannot receive as much assistance as they desire because of the “inadequate staffing levels”. George Pearson Centre, as a result, “does more harm than good”.
A blog on Huffington Post also comments that the civil rights of people with disabilities often do not get the same consideration as those of healthy individuals. The main issues the writer addresses are a lack of government funding and no legislature enforcing a standard level of care for people who need long-term care.
A documentary titled “Hope is Not a Plan” describes the problems from the point of view of people affected by disabilities, and I’ve included a trailer below.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffcxGP6TMfQ[/youtube]
Personally, I don’t know much about the whole controversy over care facilities and nursing homes to take a side, but I do recognize that both sides have legitimate complaints and limitations. Rather than burying these problems, I think these issues should be brought to light so that a solution is made.
Joanne Shih
