I'll be brief.
While occupational therapy is well suited for supporting seniors in communities across Canada, and minimizes hospitalization and institutionalization, access to this is patchy at best. Publicly funded systems, as well as our extended health insurance, do not support universal coverage of occupational therapy. Without coverage, seniors, particularly those on fixed incomes, do not seek our services, and doctors and other health professionals do not refer them to occupational therapy despite the known benefits.
Investment in cost-effective, clinically effective solutions in the community to enable our seniors to age in place, which include home safety assessments, home modifications, adaptive equipment, and ADL training for caregivers and seniors, is needed now. It is all possible through low-cost, high-impact solutions.
Our recommendation is simple. Part of the $5 billion in federal transfers to the provinces that has been earmarked for home care should be allocated to ensuring that occupational therapists are an integral part of the health care teams that provide services to seniors so that seniors can age in place in their homes and in their communities.
We're not asking for more money, simply a better use of our existing resources.
Thank you.