Getting Involved

It is a beautiful day in this Metro Vancouver, we all call home.  The sun is shining brightly as I arrive at the care facility to meet with the head of administration.  I have to wait a few minutes for him, so I have a chance to look around. 

Just down the hall, I can hear children in a small daycare, it’s an Eden Alternative philosophy of care facility, of which children play an intergenerational roll, to my right is an elderly lady in a wheel chair.  She is nicely dressed with a blue kerchief covering her silver hair.  She is sitting, staring straight ahead, watching the door I have just past through.  I wonder is she waiting for someone.  Her left hand rotates around her knee, continuously, same pace, never changing.  I say to her “Lovely day isn’t it.”  She turns to me and gives a weak smile, then turns back to the door.   

I’m not sure if she heard me or, if she didn’t comprehend or, if her mind was silenced by confusion.  What will I be like when I am her age?  Where will I be?  The facility is for complex care, but it is 25 years old and its neighbour, an Independent Living facility is 38 years old, both are in need of up grades and both are in need of the capital to accomplish it. 

Governments, in need of capital themselves, are reluctant to fund beyond their current room per diem.  Nevertheless, the government has to provide the funding.  Numerous care facilities have land and can break ground quickly, maybe a lot more quickly, than most of the projects, currently on the governments’ radar. 

In 2011, we, the boomers will arrive in a full court press… and we will be exerting pressure on the system, a lot of pressure, pressure that our present system will not be able to service with current capacities.  The time for action is now and the funding of this action is mostly in the government’s court.  It is not a time to point fingers, it more of time to work together and honour the commitment.

The health authorities set the standards in an industry, flush with change.  Is there a strategy in place to accommodate that change?  If so, I haven’t seen it.  How long, will the $123 million announced April 9th, 2009 for new projects take to get to the street?  Budgets are funny things, like the federal government finding $145 million for automobile research April 16th, 2009 from the 2008 budget.  Isn’t that great!  I wonder if there is anything left from 2007.

To my boomer brethren, I say, stand up; for all too soon, we will be there.  For those of us at the front of the line, we best make every effort to encourage our government officials, to do the right thing.  Though, considering, we will become prominent users ourselves, we might think about investing in the builders of these facilities, as they have the potential, to be profitable.  With at least a twenty year window of growth, this sector could be a good place, to put our money.  There are those, who might suggest that currently some companies that have struggled, however, the longer term, suggests brighter days ahead.

As a father of two, a grandparent of four and having volunteered in a daycare for a year and a half, I am acutely aware of the needs for daycare in our communities.  Nevertheless, the explosion, of we boomers, on this system will vastly outweigh the requirements of daycare.  Our cost to the system will be an enormous burden for our children and grandchildren to bear, so we best get it together, because nothing, is the most expensive thing, we can do.

According to researcher, Derek Miedema in his report Care-Full?  The Democratic Crunch and Senior Care in Canada states the average cost per person in annual healthcare spending is $1,832.  For those 65 – 69 it costs $5,369 and for those 85 to 89 its $21,202.  Makes one think for a moment, doesn’t it.  It also asks the question, what is fair?  Mr. Miedema uses Stats Canada numbers to build a compelling story that we should all be listening too.

There is no one answer.  There are many options that providers are working with, many more evolving systems that will continue to get better, as they investigate and develop them.  We have to invest in people not things, like 10 lane bridges.  We have to abandon NIMBY and begin to embrace the needs of people, over the needs of things. 

My friend and Mayor of Langley, Peter Fassbender recently spoke to me about cradle to grave, living, working and dying in one community.  This could reduce the demand for more roads and bridges creating the opportunity for better public transportation.  It might mean families staying closer together, which is healthier for all involved.  And, being healthier…is what this is all about.

Live well and be involved.

David Hutchison