Seniors

"A coalition of Albertan organizations are touring the province to shed light on what they say are worsening conditions for seniors in long term care facilities, and the tour is in support of a new report called From Bad to Worse: Residential Elder Care in Alberta. Here to tell us about the report is Bill Moore-Kilgannon, from Public Interest Alberta."

"The daughter of an 84-year-old Calgary dementia patient is speaking out about how her mother was “warehoused” in acute care hospitals for almost a year, because she couldn’t get long-term care in a public or private facility.“It’s been horrific for her,” said Dallas Diamond, whose mother Margaret was admitted to the Peter Lougheed Centre on Dec. 12, 2012."

EDMONTON—Public Interest Alberta and Friends of Medicare have released a video of former Associate Minister of Seniors George VanderBurg responding to concerns raised about seniors care at a forum in Whitecourt on November 13th, 2013.

"Alberta’s private nursing homes are operating with staffing levels that are dangerously inadequate, says one of the continent’s top researchers into long-term care. Statistics compiled and analyzed by the Parkland Institute show that for-profit homes in the province offered nearly 30 per cent less care by registered nurses than the recommended minimum in a North American standard commonly used by the care industry."

"The Friends of Medicare, Public Interest Alberta, and the Parkland Institute continued their cross province tour to bring to light the issues within Alberta’s long-term care and assisted living facilities, presenting their findings at the Legacy Centre this Wednesday. The tour was initiated by the release of the Parkland’s institute ominously named 'From bad to worse: Residential elder care in Alberta' which outlines many disturbing trends in the province’s long term care strategy."

"Public Interest Alberta, along with the Friends of Medicare and the Parkland Institute are concerned about what they perceive is the declining state of seniors’ care, on Wednesday, Nov. 13, they came to the Whitecourt Seniors Circle as part of the Seniors Care Provincial tour. The Whitecourt stop was the group’s eighth stop. About a dozen people attended the event including Whitecourt mayor Maryann Chichak and George VanderBurg, associate minister for seniors and MLA for Whitecourt-Ste. Anne.Bill Moore-Kilgannon, Public Interest Alberta executive director, said the group is touring the province to spark discussion on the state of seniors care."

"Sundre was one of 12 stops in Alberta for a seniors’ care tour put on by advocacy organizations, which came through town last week.Officials of Public Interest Alberta, Friends of Medicare and the Parkland Institute hosted the tour and discussed with Sundreites the issues with seniors’ care policies in Alberta. 'This is the smallest community that we’re coming to. But we’ve known for a long time – we’ve got so many forms sent in to our office – that there is a big concern here,' said Bill Moore-Kilgannon, executive director of Public Interest Alberta."

"Accessibility and quality of care for Alberta seniors is on the decline while privatization, off-loading of care onto family, and cutbacks by the province are on the rise, according to a new report from Parkland Institute. Sandra Azocar, Friends of Medicare’s executive director, said in reaction to the report — From Bad to Worse: Residential elder care in Alberta — the Redford government said it is very happy with the work its doing to provide choices to Albertans. “Instead of having a public system, we have created a corporate culture where this government has become a subsidy for corporations,” said Azocar at a seniors care meeting organized by Friends of Medicare, Public Interest Alberta and Parkland Institute at the Snell Auditorium at Red Deer Public Library on Thursday night."

"Public Interest Alberta (PIA), Friends of Medicare and the Parkland Institute will host the Seniors’ Care: Who Cares? event, which has already stopped in six different communities so far. 'At some point we’re all going to be there whether we like it or not,' said PIA executive director Bill Moore-Kilgannon, 'so just learning about the trend of our seniors’ care system is very important.' According to these organizations, the trends in Alberta are disappointing and require major attention from the provincial government."

"Noel Somerville, chair of the Public Interest Alberta’s Senior Task Force, said that if the government continues to go down the path they are currently on, they would be solving a budget problem on the back of low-income earners of Alberta.'When did it become acceptable public policy for the government to offload its financial problems on the citizens because they are sick,' he said."