Public Interest Alberta’s Seniors Task Force requested information from Alberta Health and Wellness on homecare and continuing cares services in Alberta. The department said that they did not have that information and that we would have to ask each of the health regions for that information directly. In the fall of 2007, this request was sent to the health regions and eventually all health regions responded to the task force’s questions. We have also reviewed the latest annual reports of each of the health regions to get more detailed information about the total population served and the total budgets for the various forms of seniors care. Here are the main findings of our research:

Total number of seniors as a percentage of total regional population

Health Region	Total number of seniors	% of seniors/total population
R1 Chinook	21,115	13.6
R2 Palliser	12,763	12.6
R3 Calgary	111,648	9.5
R4 David Thompson	34,968	11.9
R5 East Central	16,985	15.4
R6 Capital	111,706	11.1
R7 Aspen	18,729	10.6
R8 Peace Country	11,988	8.9
R9 Northern Lights	2,051	2.8
Alberta	341,967	10.6

The number of seniors in each region compared to the number of long-term care beds

Health Region	Total number of LTC beds	Number of Seniors/LTC bed
R1 Chinook	418	50.5
R2 Palliser	535	23.9
R3 Calgary	4658	24.0
R4 David Thompson	717	48.8
R5 East Central	773	22.0
R6 Capital	4642	24.1
R7 Aspen	825	22.7
R8 Peace Country	520	23.1
R9 Northern Lights	70	29.3
Alberta	13,158	26.0

Total  number of private for-profit beds compared to total LTC beds

Health Region	Total number of LTC private for-profit beds	Percentage of total long-term care beds that are for profit
R1 Chinook	289	69.14
R2 Palliser	409	76.45
R3 Calgary	2651	56.91
R4 David Thompson	73	10.18
R5 East Central	60	7.76
R6 Capital	1464	31.54
R7 Aspen	226	27.39
R8 Peace Country	80	15.38
R9 Northern Lights	0	0.00
Alberta	5252	39.91

Continuing care expenditures relative to the total senior’s population

Health Region	Total Continuing Care Spent (x $1000) *	Total Continuing care expenditure / senior
R1 Chinook	$36,253	$1,717
R2 Palliser	$23,517	$1,843
R3 Calgary	$186,112	$1,667
R4 David Thompson	$63,482	$1,815
R5 East Central	$41,439	$2,440
R6 Capital	$244,790	$2,191
R7 Aspen	$31,056	$1,658
R8 Peace Country	$22,641	$1,889
R9 Northern Lights	$4,816	$2,348
Alberta	$654,106	$1,913

* Actual dollars used in 2006 – 2007 as reported in health regions annual reports http://www.health.alberta.ca/resources/annual-report_2007.html

The home care expenditure relative to the number of seniors

Health Region	Total Home Care Spent  (x $1000) *	Percentage of homecare hours used by seniors **	Total homecare expenditure / senior
R1 Chinook	$16,173	85	$655
R2 Palliser	$8,612	78	$528
R3 Calgary	$104,380	66	$620
R4 David Thompson	$23,515	74	$500
R5 East Central	$20,746	89	$1092
R6 Capital	$78,376	74	$520
R7 Aspen	$13,546	84	$606
R8 Peace Country	$15,827	79	$1048
R9 Northern Lights	$3,210	66	$1026
Alberta	284,385

* Actual dollars used in 2006 – 2007 as reported in health regions annual reports. http://www.health.alberta.ca/resources/annual-report_2007.html
** As homecare is a service that is available for all people, we have adjusted these numbers based on the total number of home care hours used by people over 65. Total number of homecare hours by age group as reported by Alberta Health and Wellness 2002 – 2003. http://www.health.gov.ab.ca/regions/d6-03.htm