Human Resources Committee on Nov. 7th, 2017

[Melissa De Boer]

Yes, we have noticed. It's maybe spouses caring for spouses or families caring for family members. To echo what they have said, respite care is extremely important to allow these caregivers to also remain family members, not simply caregivers.

[Andrea Dresselhuis]

We can't reiterate enough that caregivers need support. It's not just fatigue from compassion and the emotion, but it's also the financial toll. Financial incentives and access to respite care is a huge piece.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bryan May]

Thank you very much.

Now we'll go to MP Ruimy, please.

[Dan Ruimy, Liberal, Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, BC]

Mr. Chair, I'm going to be sharing my time with Parliamentary Secretary Lauzon.

Thank you, everybody, for coming today.

It's been quite clear right from day one that this problem we are facing hasn't happened overnight. It's been around for decades, and we have not overall as governments responded very well, bringing us to where we are today. That's the problem. It's a problem that did not start overnight, and it's not going to be solved overnight.

I have a couple of quick questions. One of the common aspects we keep hearing about over and over again is loneliness. Mr. McDonald, you mentioned Keeping Connected. What's the cost of that?

[Leighton McDonald]

It depends on the frequency of calls and everything. It's a very low cost. I don't have the figures with me. It really is a telephone service run by specially trained companions who are not registered health professionals but who work in collaboration with health processionals. It basically comes down to the cost of the resources for the core companions and the telephone calls.

[Dan Ruimy, Liberal, Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, BC]

Is it a centralized call centre, so to speak? Can this be rolled out throughout the country? Loneliness we've heard about time and time again.

[Leighton McDonald]

We run this from our offices which are based in Mississauga, and we run it across Ontario and Nova Scotia.

[Dan Ruimy, Liberal, Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, BC]

Do you have any metrics on this system?

[Leighton McDonald]

We do. I don't have them with me, but we certainly have them.

[Dan Ruimy, Liberal, Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, BC]

Could you submit them to the clerk, please?

[Leighton McDonald]

Sure.

[Dan Ruimy, Liberal, Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, BC]

Thank you very much.

Mr. Pike, I love your concept and what your community is all about. I have a quick question. What's the average cost per patient to stay there?

[Ron Pike]

With respect to which area?

[Dan Ruimy, Liberal, Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, BC]

If you can break that out, that would be great.

[Ron Pike]

With respect to our independent living, or life leases, these are.... A life lease is a market rate on the housing. On average, people would require just over $300,000 to come into those. Within our assisted and supported living, it would probably be $3,000 to $3,500 a month. Residential care, on average, is about $200 a day. Again, depending on the integration of the public and private systems there, it's paid for in different ways.

[Dan Ruimy, Liberal, Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, BC]

It's not cheap.

We have seen, again, the haves and the have-nots.

[Steven Blaney, Conservative, Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, QC]

It's not cheap.

[Dan Ruimy, Liberal, Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, BC]

May I continue?

For those who have money, it can cost up to $5,000 a month, and they are very well taken care of. For those who don't have money, it's whatever their CPP is. That becomes a challenge, because the care there is not as great.

Thank you.

I'm going to pass my time to Parliamentary Secretary Lauzon.

[Stéphane Lauzon, Liberal, Argenteuil—La Petite-Nation, QC]

I would like to thank the witnesses for their excellent presentations.

Ms. Osborne and Ms. Mercier, I was struck by the number of volunteers in your organization. The fact that you are able to mobilize that many volunteers to break seniors' isolation could really serve as a model throughout Canada.

Can you tell us how you go about recruiting those volunteers and the role you give them in your organization?

[Michèle Osborne]

First, we have to recognize the work of the volunteers and thank them. The volunteers are almost all aged 55 and over and work with clients aged 55 and over. We try to make a good match between the person and the volunteer. For someone who wants to say at home and have friendly visits, we have to find the right person. Being a volunteer is very rewarding. We simply have to talk about it.

[Stéphane Lauzon, Liberal, Argenteuil—La Petite-Nation, QC]

Does your team use a program, model or grid to recruit volunteers, for example with criteria rated from 1 to 10 to determine whether they meet the requirements?

Could you provide that grid to us if you use one?

[Michèle Osborne]

There is one, but there are so many ways to recruit volunteers. Sometimes they were family caregivers whose loved one has died, but they want to stay involved. There is no magic formula for recruiting volunteers, but, in my opinion, the organization's reputation is a very important factor.

In any case, our organization has 120 volunteers and it does happen that someone is not in the right place. We have to listen to the volunteers to make sure they are assigned to the right service for them. There is no magic formula.

[Julie Mercier]

I would like to add a few details about how we recruit volunteers. We have a questionnaire with a lot of questions so we can find out the person's interests and preferences. People volunteer because they enjoy it, so it is crucial that they do the kind of thing that motivates them. It goes without saying therefore that we give them duties that they enjoy. That is important.

[Stéphane Lauzon, Liberal, Argenteuil—La Petite-Nation, QC]

You have talked a lot about partnership. You have an outstanding team that looks after the rural areas. As you said, seniors want to stay in their own homes as long as possible. Winter is coming, though, which leads to isolation. There is snow, it is cold, and people do not go out as much.

What plan would you suggest to our government to help seniors in rural areas who have no choice other than to leave their home?

What possible solutions could you suggest?

[The Chair, Liberal, Bryan May]

Please answer very briefly.