It can be a difficult decision for a senior to decide they can't live in their own home any more.
But there are options for seniors when it's no longer possible or practical to live in their own homes.
That doesn’t mean they won’t face some challenges.
After a busy morning, Stella Quesnelle is taking a much-deserved break at home.
“I'm never lonely for the other place,” she says. “This is home and there's so much activity here. It's really wonderful.”
Quesnelle has been living in her apartment for a couple of months. She and her husband Albert moved into Georgian Village in Penetanguishene last fall.
The Quesnelles made the tough decision last summer to move from their home of 60 years into a seniors’ residence. Quesnelle wasn't well. He'd had a heart attack and needed care around the clock.
“When I fell sick last June, Al has 24-hour care, so what do you do when the kids have to be called in for 24 hours?” she says. “I wasn't feeling good so we decided between Al and I that we would sell our home.”
The Quesnelles had planned a long time for that move out of their home. They put themselves on a list to rent at Georgian Village when news first came out eight years ago that it would be built.
Eventually they also had to ask for a bed in the nursing home section for Al Quesnelle.
“CCAC were involved so it didn't take long that he was on the list to be in the nursing home,” says Stella Quesnelle. “And it was a little bit of a challenge when he went. He thought ‘Y'know I don't want to move,’ but then when he got there he loved it.”
With Quesnelle in the wing where seniors live independently and her husband down the hall with nursing care, both were happy and comfortable.
Sadly, Al Quesnelle passed away about a month ago.
There are a number of housing options for seniors like the Quesnelles.
There's independent living – apartments – like Stella Quesnelle's.
There's assisted living, where seniors have their own place but meals are taken care of and where nursing support is available.
Finally, there are long term care homes, or "nursing homes" – facilities where residents are cared for 24 hours a day.
But a spot in one of those homes is hard to come by.
At Georgian Village in Penetanguishene, the wait for a nursing home bed is at least two years right now.
“It's different between each facility, we're up over a hundred on our wait list for Georgian Manor so it's one of the longer wait lists in the county,” says Jane Sinclair, County of Simcoe Health and Emergency Services.
Waiting Lists
There are 26 nursing homes in North Simcoe Muskoka, another 12 in York Region, and they all have waiting lists. The waits can be long even if a doctor says a patient should be made a priority.
Maria Belanger, 94, made it to the top of the list at Georgian Village a month ago.
Before that, she was living with her son, Peter, and his family.
“I was getting old and I do need help and Peter didn't have time to do it,” she says. “And his wife was working and my grandson's wife has two little ones to look after. She couldn't look after me, so I thought I better get out of their way.”
Belanger is hard of hearing and she's doesn’t see very well. With a referral from her doctor, she only had to wait two months to get into a nursing home.
According to Statistics Canada, there are more than two million seniors in Ontario, and 20 years from now that number will double.
The provincial government is planning to create another 900 long term care beds in the next couple of years, but none of them will be in Simcoe County, Muskoka, or York Region.
So the waits are long and getting longer.
The key to getting the right place to live is planning ahead and CCAC will help any senior do that. CCAC, or community care access centres, are the provincial centres that coordinate all long-term care for seniors.
“We have the expertise to know where your care needs are and where they can be best supported,” says Pamala Wright, client care coordinator. “So it could be some home care services, and f the care needs start to grow we often start talking about other programs like assisted living and supportive housing or long term are planning.”
Quesnelle has been working closely with her CCAC coordinator for years, mainly to help care for her husband, but now she's thinking of her future.
She knows things can change quickly.
“It wouldn't be hard to do the transition to long term care,” she says. “And the children would not feel like mom is moving away somewhere.”
For now, Quesnelle is content where she is. But if another move has to be made, she' already has a plan. She's one of the lucky ones because she's been planning for her own care for almost 10 years.
