Teri Robinson, Judy Peck, and Susan Reed all say today’s residents are more frail with more complex health needs. Residents also tend to be older when they move in and they have shorter stays.

When Teri, the administrator of Craigwiel Gardens in Ailsa Craig, started out as a health care aide 23 years ago, “there were very few walkers and wheelchairs around the home. The residents were up and about, and many of them had lived there since it opened 10 years before.”

Susan Reed, administrator of Extendicare New Orchard Lodge in Ottawa, has also seen changes in residents since joining the field in 1980. “Back then, most were in their 70s and 80s. You didn’t see many in their 90s. But today people are living longer and are more in-tune to caring for themselves.”

As both Susan and Teri attest, the increase in home support services in recent years has allowed older people to stay in their own homes for longer.

Judy, the administrator at Forest Heights Long-Term Care Centre in Kitchener, notes the same trend. Legislation changes in 1993 led to the re-development of program standards, including an increased role for Community Care Access Centres and home care programs, she says.

“That had a significant impact on the type of resident we were caring for. Of course, long-term care staff supports the idea of people staying in their own home as long as they can. That’s what we all wish for.”

That being said, more and more people are only entering long-term care when it is no longer possible for them to be cared for in their own homes – “so by that time, they have more complex care needs,” says Judy.

“Many come in with multiple medical problems,” says Teri.

Indeed, chronic care is the norm now, which is quite a difference from 20 years ago, says Susan. “The demographic we used to have (many residents were in their 70s) are now the retirement home demographic,” she notes.

In response to the increasing complexity of residents’ care needs, the kind of care provided has become more intricate and technological.

For example, Teri notes that in the past, staff had to physically lift residents to transfer them – whereas today, all transfers are done with mechanical lifts.

And Susan says such care practises as intravenous therapy and tube feedings are not uncommon anymore.

Judy agrees. “Years ago, dialysis, for example, was the exception, but that’s not the case anymore. A lot of facilities couldn’t support that kind of care years ago, but now they can.”