In the past three years, my mother’s Alzheimer’s disease had progressed to the point where she could not be alone.
After an assessment by the CLSC (provincial Local Community Services Centres), they determined she would be given seven hours assistance per week to ensure she was eating.
My mother could not cook, did not know what day it was and had difficulty dressing and with hygiene. Instead, the family hired a local woman to spend eight hours a day with our mother.
Last year, the woman continued to spend eight hours a day and the CLSC did their annual assessment and offered only two hours per day.
She developed mania and OCD, still the CLSC offered nothing more.
During this period, my mother had a series of falls, refused to change her clothes or bathe. She turned the heat off one winter weekend and the pipes froze. She developed mania and OCD, still the CLSC offered nothing more.
The family continued to pay for home care until she was hospitalized after a fall. …
To read the rest of this letter from a frustrated caregiver about a broken health care system, go to the Montreal Gazette here.
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