Older Adults

The Health Standards Organization wants your input on how to provide better quality long-term care.

As Canada’s baby-boom population ages, the demand for elder care will double by 2031, according to a new report commissioned by the Canadian Medical Association (CMA).

The National Institute on Ageing (NIA) and the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) released the findings of an online national survey gauging the perspectives of 2,005 Canadians on how the second wave of the pandemic has affected the state of Canada’s LTC systems. The majority of Canadians (86%) surveyed — and 97% of those aged 65 years and older — are concerned about the current state of LTC in Canada.

This is the story of Mr. S. and it illustrates how we could be doing better for the good of patients and the sustainably of the health care system.

Public supporters, as well as staff, patients and residents of one of Bruyère’s facilities in Ottawa participated in the latest roundtable discussion held by the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) to discuss the need for a national seniors strategy.

Ontario is launching consultations across the province to help develop a new dementia strategy, which will improve access to quality care for people living with dementia and boost support for those who care for them.

Nickel Belt Member of Parliament Marc Serré believes a national seniors strategy is needed to address the demographic shift and help the system adapt to this new reality.

Canada needs urgent political leadership to ensure our health care system evolves to meet the needs of our aging population.

Former justice minister Rob Nicholson has tabled a private member’s bill in the House of Commons that calls on the provinces to develop a cooperative plan to find a cure for Alzheimer’s disease.

The Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement announced the 18 organizations that will improve healthcare for older adults by adapting Mount Sinai Hospital’s (Toronto) proven Acute Care for Elders (ACE) Strategy in their healthcare facilities.

The Canadian Medical Association (CMA) – backed by our over 83,000 physician members and our 35,000 Demand a Plan public supporters – agrees and now is the time to act.

Canadian seniors would be healthier, and the health care system more effective, if an affordable, supportive housing strategy was in place throughout the country.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Ministers Visit Seniors Communities to Promote 2019 Budget

What if the health system - which you supported with your taxes and depended on your entire life - is not able to care for you in the way you'd like, just when you need it most?

The Acute Care for Elders (ACE) strategy has made real improvements for patients over the age of 65, including shorter hospital stays, fewer readmissions to hospital, and greater chance of returning home rather than to an institution such as a long term care home.

“My friends say I don’t look a day over 66,” jokes Ray of Squamish, British Columbia. At 67 years old, he is seven years in to his retirement–the very retirement he envisioned.

More Canadians are over the age of 65 than under 14 — a profound demographic change that is creating significant challenges for the country’s finances and affecting Canada’s economy, the Senate Committee on National Finance said in a report.

On July 18, 2018, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau named Hamilton West MP Filomena Tassi as Canada’s new Minister of Seniors. The portfolio dedicated to seniors that Tassi is in charge of is a new, welcome addition to cabinet for long-time seniors’ advocates – including the CMA and Demand a Plan.

Whatever form it takes—spacious suburban bungalow or urban condo—our homes are more than roofs over our heads. We invest them with memories and emotions.

A new Alberta law titled The Resident and Family Councils Act, in effect as of Apr. 1, 2018, will give seniors living in long-term care and licensed supportive living facilities the right to establish self-governing resident and family councils.

The most effective advocacy tactic is also the simplest: many voices speaking as one, delivering the same message.

This year we’re Alzheimer’s awareness month is fighting social stigma.

Emergency rooms across Canada triage and treat a steady, sometimes ballooning, stream of patients on any given day.

Atlantic premiers have teamed up to call for a Health Accord that takes into account their aging populations — the oldest in the country.

British Columbia (BC) recently undertook Canada’s most exhaustive survey of seniors living in long-term care (LTC) facilities, highlighting the province’s commitment to quality of care for this vulnerable sector of the population.

Facing the challenge of an aging population, BC’s General Practices Service Committee instituted a residential care initiative aimed at enabling physicians to develop local, scalable and sustainable solutions.

When caring for older patients, Thornton says physicians should not only be talking about medication, but also about what can be done as an adjunct to therapy or in some cases to replace medication altogether.

Dr. Chris Simpson, past president of the Canadian Medical Association (CMA), and Anthony Knight, Chief Executive Officer of the New Brunswick Medical Society (NBMS), sat down June 15 with Premier Brian Gallant and provincial Health Minister Victor Boudreau.

LGBT seniors say going into residential care can feel like going back in the closet. What are ways to address concerns about being out and open in a residential care setting?

The reality is that many eye diseases have no symptoms and a verdict of 20/20 vision doesn’t necessarily mean all is well.

Improved functioning is particularly crucial when it comes to Canada’s growing number of seniors, and Pamela Siekierski couldn’t agree more.

Launched in 2015, the RISE campaign exists to help Canadians of all ages and in all regions gain a greater awareness of the impact of loneliness and isolation on older citizens.

In November 2018, the Canadian Medical Association (CMA), along with other stakeholders, attended a roundtable meeting hosted by the Canadian Association for Long Term Care (CALTC). The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the widespread effects of shortages in the health care workforce (known as health human resources or HHR) on seniors care.

As the CMA continues spreading its message about the urgent need for a national seniors strategy to provide better care for our rapidly aging population, politicians appear to be listening.

A national strategy on seniors care is needed to help seniors get better access to efficient high-quality care, which will in turn help ensure Canadians of all ages gain improved access to care.

Consensus is often hard to come by in these binary times, but there is a health care issue on which both the general Canadian public and health professionals agree: the need for patient-centred care.

Budget makes important strides to support Canadians, but greater commitment from Federal government needed to improve health, especially for seniors.

Critics say that Aboriginal, Métis and Inuit Canadians over age 65 are paying for the lack of collaborative problem-solving between government departments and agencies.

On July 24, CMA President Dr. Laurent Marcoux was in New York City to support the creation a new UN convention on the rights of older persons and to advocate for Canada to champion its adoption.

The Canadian Medical Association (CMA) took its campaign for better seniors care to Winnipeg and Vancouver in late May to meet face-to-face with ministers, Members of Parliament (MP) and political staffers attending the Liberal and Conservative party conventions.

CMA President Dr. Granger Avery and the CMA’s Chief Policy Advisor, Owen Adams, appeared before the Senate Standing Committee on National Finance on March 1 for their study on the financial implications and regional considerations of Canada’s aging population.

The Canadian Medical Association (CMA) is proposing the creation of an innovation fund to expand home care services as the best way to invest the $3 billion that the federal government has already pledged for urgently needed improvements in this area.

CMA President Dr. Cindy Forbes went to Parliament Hill on April 18 for a private briefing to on how to improve seniors care.

Seniors ministers and parliamentary secretaries from nine provinces, along with their staff, attended a special briefing last week, sponsored by the Canadian Medical Association (CMA), on the looming seniors’ care crisis.

Throne Speech addresses the Canadian Medical Association’s long-standing calls for federal leadership on health and social policy

The Canadian Medical Association (CMA) meet individually with premiers and held public roundtables on seniors care and the upcoming Health Accord.

As a student in the MD/Phd program at the University of British Columbia, where he is pursuing a medical degree and has completed his PhD in engineering, Edgcumbe has helped develop many new medical technologies: an augmented-reality display of ultrasound images to help surgeons better “see” patients’ organs, and the pico lantern, a device that maps and projects a patient’s tumor(s) and blood vessels – in 3D – onto their body during surgery.

As Canada’s health ministers meet in Toronto to discuss the key issues affecting the health of Canadians, the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) has released its plan for a new Health Accord to give our nation’s health care system a much-needed reboot.

Dr. Cindy Forbes, president of the Canadian Medical Association (CMA), headed to Parliament Hill on Mar. 10 with a long shopping list of items she wanted to see included in the Mar. 22 federal budget.

The CMA’s submission to the House of Commons’ Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities, Advancing Inclusion and Quality of Life for Seniors, outlines 15 recommendations for how seniors can remain active and engaged citizens of our communities.

Visualizing the costs of an aging population.

A new report launched today by the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) shows that many seniors are falling through cracks in terms of accessing care and services due to a lack of a national approach and strategy.

It’s an equation that can’t be ignored. The older we get, the more likely it is that some of us will need assistance beyond what we can receive in our own homes. As Canada’s population ages, building new long-term care capacity will enable our communities to provide better care to their citizens and generate economic growth, says a new study by the Conference Board of Canada.

CMA’s 2018 pre-budget brief provides key recommendations to help improve the productivity and effectiveness of the health care system for Canadians across the country.

The CMA’s 16th Annual National Report Card on Health Care focused on solutions to address the health care needs of Canada’s aging population that could be included in the soon-to-be negotiated Health Accord between the federal, provincial and territorial governments.

The Canadian Medical Association (CMA) recently brought the topic of seniors care to where it matters the most — a long-term care facility.

Your life shouldn’t stop when you become a senior, or when you retire; you should be able to remain actively and meaningfully engaged with the world.

The Duma family and Dr. Cargill are devoted advocates, raising awareness about necessary access to palliative care for so many patients who cannot wait three months.

Every day, physicians see first-hand the inefficiencies of a broken system trying to support our elderly. It’s commonplace for doctors to assign patients to gurneys in the hallway because hospitals are over capacity by mid-morning.

85 per cent of Canadians diagnosed with dementia and living at home relied ― at least in part ― on family or friends as informal caregivers, Statistics Canada said in a recent study.

Canada’s physicians are glad to see health care back on the federal to-do list with the release Friday of mandate letters from the Prime Minister to his ministers.

In Surrey, British Columbia, plans are underway to build a long-term care home that provides services for members of the “aging and diverse multicultural population” who are unable to care for themselves.

On Gabriola Island, about five kilometres east of Nanaimo, senior citizens are discovering the power of exercise.

Dr. Claire Liddy discusses the eConsult model and how it helps patients.

Former CMA president Dr. Chris Simpson publishes article on the wait time problem in Canadian health care; stresses the effect on seniors.

There is a disturbing assumption among many adults that losing one’s vision is a natural part of the aging process. While there are certainly some natural changes that happen in the eye as we grow older, they need not lead to blindness.

Throughout November, we asked for your feedback on issues related to fall prevention to better understand where our readers were coming from. Here are the results!

“Today’s budget was an ideal opportunity for the federal government to step up and act to strengthen seniors care,” said CMA President Dr. Granger Avery. “Sadly, Canadians have been left wanting and waiting for leadership from their federal government on this important issue.”

On June 17, the federal government announced Canada’s first national dementia strategy. The guiding principle of this ambitious strategy envisions a future wherein all Canadians living with dementia and their caregivers are supported.

In late June, several of Canada’s leading health care experts gathered for an Economic Club of Canada lunchtime event.

More and more women are facing the realities of aging alone, but this doesn’t have to be a negative thing.

Quebec is the first province to appoint a minister responsible for caregivers.

Fall prevention awareness is essential for anyone living with frailty – and those who assist and care for them.

According to Montreal orthopedic surgeon Dr. John Antoniou, the impact of Canada’s current wait times for joint replacement surgery go far beyond a patient’s need for a new hip or knee.

Pressure is mounting on governments to boost home care funding, with Home Care Ontario recently calling for $600 million in additional annual funding for home care service providers.

On June 20, 2018, the federal government responded to a report by the House of Commons’ Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities (the HUMA Committee) entitled Advancing Inclusion and Quality of Life for Seniors in which they addressed six of the HUMA Committee’s recommendations in the report related to income security, housing, home care, informal caregivers, age-friendly communities and a national seniors care strategy.

Mount Pleasant Neighbourhood House, a community group that provides services for everyone from seniors to babies in a culturally diverse population, used their $10,000 grant from the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) Foundation to start their Nourishing our Seniors at Home (NOSH) program.

Geriatric day hospitals are community-based or hospital outpatient programs intended to prevent unnecessary emergency department visits, hospital admissions and nursing home admissions.

Thanks to a Healthy Canadians Grant, Pilgrims Hospice in Edmonton, Alberta, is expanding their popular Adult Respite Day Program with a new initiative focused on providing care for seniors suffering from dementia.

Imagine walking around the world without ever leaving your hometown.

Many seniors in our communities are isolated and don’t have access to nutritious foods.

Thanks to a Healthy Canadians Grant, a community group in rural St. Ann’s Bay, Nova Scotia, is introducing an innovative program targeting isolated seniors in the community.

Alzheimer’s disease and dementia rob those affected of their most precious possession — their memories. A new project funded in part by a Healthy Canadians Grant aims to improve memory recall in seniors living with these conditions by allowing them to virtually visit familiar places from their past.

For many people, animals are an important part of their lives. For seniors, especially those who are socially isolated or living in nursing homes, hospitals or retirement residences, animals can provide comfort and companionship, reduce stress and promote a sense of joy and well-being.

Volunteering is a way for seniors to retain a sense of self and to continue to cultivate meaning in their lives; Canadian seniors are volunteering in record numbers.

Recent survey results indicate that approximately 8.2% of older adults are affected by elder abuse in Canada. However, given that only one in five incidents is disclosed to someone in a position to help, this rate is likely much higher.

The Conservative Party of Canada members will elect a new leader on May 27. Who are the leadership candidates focused on Canada’s health and seniors care priorities?

The Champlain Community Care Access Centre (CCAC) is launching a new Innovation Centre that will help more people stay at home longer, better support caregivers, and improve access to home health care technologies.

A unique health care project in the province of Quebec, where nurses pay daily visits to sick seniors in their homes, is having clear results: two out of every three patients who have participated in the project have been able to avoid unnecessary hospital emergency admissions.

In early 2017, the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority (WRHA) was dealing with a situation common in cities across Canada; 78 of the city’s hospital beds were occupied by people waiting for spaces to open up in nursing homes. This is how they changed that.

Home Share Newfoundland is a program that pairs Memorial University students with residents in the community who are 50 years of age and older.

More than 2,000 Canadians with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) who took part in the INSPIRED collaboration have endured 64% fewer hospital readmissions and 53% fewer emergency department visits since the program launched in 2014–15.

A new white paper, Why Canada Needs to Better Care for Its Working Caregivers, produced by the National Institute of Ageing (NIA) at Ryerson University, examines the financial, social and personal health burdens borne by caregivers in Canada.c

Does someone you love suffer from dementia?

Last fall’s federal election was an important milestone in the evolution of the Canadian health care system and DemandaPlan supporters can take a lot of the credit, says Dr. Chris Simpson, past president of the Canadian Medical Association (CMA).

One of Quebec’s most successful and unique seniors’ community services organizations started life in 1973 as a neighbourhood initiative launched by a small group of academics and locals concerned with the quality of life of seniors in their area.

What is technological literacy? According to our research and Students for Seniors’ technology tutoring experience over the last three years, it is the ability, curiosity and attitude to confidently explore and discover new and existing technologies and to use them to enhance one’s lifestyle.

Hearing loss is one of the most prevalent chronic conditions affecting Canadians over the age of 65, and the number of older Canadians with hearing loss is growing fast.

Imagine being trapped. Reliving your darkest moments, over and over. Being isolated. No one to talk to, to break the cycle of darkness. For most of us, it’s a terrifying thought. But for many of the hundreds of thousands of seniors living with dementia, this is the reality.

The significant increase in the population of seniors means it is more important than ever to make adaptations to physical environments and transportation so that they are accessible to people with differing levels of independence and who use mobility aids such as walkers, wheelchairs, scooters and canes.