Foyer Lacombe received a blessing and a reprieve this week when the provincial government announced its plans to open more than 450 continuing care spaces across the province.
Despite a dire need for senior care facilities in Alberta, the long-term care wing in the facility for retired priests and brothers was set to close due to costs and dwindling occupancy – a mere 29 of 42 beds were being utilized.
Health Minister Stephen Mandel's plan, which will open 464 spaces over the next year, has breathed life back into Foyer Lacombe where 22 of the 149 spaces in the Edmonton region have been allocated.
All Albertans will benefit as seniors occupying emergency beds in hospitals are moved, freeing up space to help reduce climbing wait times in the province’s emergency rooms.
While the news is good for St. Albert, where the population of residents 65 or older is 8,870, according to the city's 2014 census, the plan barely scratches the surface in meeting the current need. More than 700 Alberta seniors or complex needs patients are wait-listed for a bed. It also falls woefully short of addressing the future pressures of an aging population.
Those same statistics foreshadow the pressures the city and the province will experience over the next decade. St. Albert's largest demographic – 13,474 people – is between the ages of 50 and 64.
With that in mind, 464 beds – not all new, the figure includes beds previously closed, 364 over the past two years – falls well short of the government’s previous promise to open 1,000 new long-term care beds a year, over the past five years. Not all the spaces in this new plan are designated long-term care either.
Our province has fallen behind in meeting the needs of Alberta’s aging population. Alberta has failed to live up to its goals and the most recent announcement is only a Band-Aid solution that still demonstrates little commitment to addressing a long-term solution.
Not only does the announcement represent a net gain of a mere 100 new beds, it also comes with no new funding. Over the past four years the province has issued grants for more than 1,400 continuing care spaces and the current capital plan already calls for $252 million in Affordable Supportive Living Initiative grants over the next three years. About $180 million of that fund remains, less the $60 million this most recent announcement represents.
Our province must do better. Our seniors deserve quality care. We need sustainable funding to both ease the current bed squeeze while developing a plan to prepare for the future.
