I certainly endorse everything Pat just said. I also agree; by talking about home care, I'm certainly not denigrating long-term care. We really need it. I have done palliative care in long-term care homes, and they are not all created equal. I had one where I had to get the gardener to let me in, and I couldn't find a nurse on two floors.
So it's desperate, what's happening. I think what government could do is not make more regulations but have some national standards. We need people who can get to know their patients. More people will come and work in that setting—because seniors are wonderful to work with—if it isn't so heart-wrenching when they get there.
In B.C. we just had a big court case and now in the schools they have to have a certain number of students. Okay, let's do that for our seniors too. Let's say you have to have a certain staffing ratio. You have to have a certain percentage of full-time staff so that the residents get used to the people who are there. That's what they really need, that relationship. The people who are working there will stay there if they can provide the loving care they're trained to provide for the people they're caring for. They're not going home in tears. They can do those things that they can see will make a big difference.