The petition, signed by “hundreds” of community members, family members, and residents, is part of the OLTCA’s Advocacy 2006 campaign. The organization is asking the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care for additional funding to fully meet expectations of resident-oriented care.

“We shouldn’t be caring for residents simply in a custodial manner. We want residents to have a balanced life, and to take care of other needs beyond the physical. More holistic care is the government’s expectation, and we’d like to be able to do more,” says Linda Chaplin, administrator of Granite Ridge (see: http://www.specialty-care.com/314GraniteRidge.html), a long term care home in Stittsville.

While giving tours of the 224 bed, Level “A” home, Chaplin says she often thinks of the discrepancy of having a state-of-the-art facility while also having a nursing staff struggling to match demand.

“I think to myself – ‘what a lovely building!’” says Chaplin. “But then it occurs to me that even though we have a nice building without the right numbers of staff we are not providing balanced care. The resident’s deserve a full life – not just us putting out fires.”

Chaplin’s main concern is that as we reach the “bulge” of the baby boomer generation, that the system will be unprepared for the large influx of new long term care residents. As their duty is risk-management, she says, it behooves all administrators to ensure that their staff are prepared to meet ever-growing care needs in a way that minimizes risk.

“The system is only as good as you make it,” says Chaplin.

The OLTCA has requested an additional $306.6 million dollars in order for member homes to hire 2,300 hundred new staff over the next two years. The hope is that this will translate into an extra 20 minutes of care time per resident.

Both the Family and Resident’s Councils have been active in supporting the petition and the initiative, says Chaplin.

“These councils couldn’t agree with the initiative more – they see how pushed people are to simply get someone to the dining room. Dining should be a pleasurable and not a rushed experience – it’s a basic service.”

“We just want to meet Canadian standards,” she adds, citing the average of 3 hours of care received by residents in the Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitba.

Other pressing, recurring issues in long term care homes – dementia care is a principle one, says Chaplin, who points out that 50 percent of Granite Ridge’s residents have dementia – will also grow in importance and require increased staffing for adequate care.

“This is only going to intensify,” she says.