As you know we have had a crisis in our Long Term Care homes. Not enough beds and not enough staff. I have blogged extensively on the subject.  However there is some light starting to shine through.  As you may know the City of Toronto operates 10 long term care homes (2,600 beds), including:

• Bendale Acres
• Carefree Lodge
• Castleview Wychwood
• Cummer Lodge
• Fudger House
• Kipling Acres
• Lakeshore Lodge
• Seven Oaks
• True Davidson Acres and
• Wesburn Manor

Councillor Josh Matlow was successful in his lobbying efforts. The city has now committed to provide ‘emotion-focused care’ to these residents.  What exactly does this mean?

They are discussing making changes so that residents are treated as people, who live in ‘this home’ rather than as clients living in a facility.  There is discussion of the importance of care relationships that ‘embrace the interests of each individual living in the home’.  Most critically we need to see an  increase in front line staffing. Recreating home- like settings and the development of dementia friendly villages are also needed. Brightly painted walls, (artificial) sunlight, music, pets, access to outdoor space and treating residents with care and respect  can make a huge difference in someone’s daily life. It sounds simplistic and it is. It is thinking differently about what we need and ways to make it happen.  More and more of us will be living with dementia or loving someone who has it. This is the first baby step in redefining and reshaping these facilities; starting with the city operated homes is a great first step.

Congratulations.