Reports Raises Concerns About Medical Treatment for Elderly People in Mississauga

Published October 5, 2018 at 5:33 am

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Almost everyone wants to live to a ripe old age, but older adults sometimes require more care and assistance than their younger counterparts.

Is Mississauga–and the entire Region of Peel, for that matter–equipped to handle an aging population?

In the Region of Peel, it is estimated that by 2041, the number of seniors (individuals the are aged 65 and over), will increase by 134 per cent.

Due to advances in health care and public health efforts, people are living longer. As the population ages, the proportion of the elderly segment continues to grow faster than any other. In 2016, there were 177,000 seniors in Peel and that is expected to increase to 415, 000 by 2041.

By 2041, one in five Peel residents will be over the age of 65.

As the number of seniors continues to rise, this puts greater pressure on services at the Region of Peel.

Currently there are 939 people that received care across all five Peel Long Term Care centres. Out of every five patients, four are extensively or totally dependent on staff. This means that the experience of patients in Peel care is heavily reliant on the individuals that provide that care.

Some of the ways that the Region of Peel checks on the quality of performance of care is through various Quality Indicators shown in the chart below.

Compared to the Provincial Performance, the Region of Peel is on the positive in all ways except for the inappropriate use of anti-psychotic medication.

“It’s a good news story that we’re getting better, but I have to say that looking at potentially inappropriate prescribing of anti-psychotic drugs I’m not really overly happy with still being at 23.4 per cent,” says Ward 5 Councillor Pat Saito. “Even though the Provincial average is 20 per cent, and we’re close to it, we should be aiming for zero.”

Dr. Sudip Saga, Senior Medical Director of Long Term Care mentioned that the goal is for nobody to be prescribed ant anti-psychotic medications, unless they are displaying clinical signs. The clinical signs would suggest something called psychosis. The clinical definition of psychosis is an altered perception of reality.

Saito also mentioned that these seniors are part of the vulnerable sector, and often don’t have the family support that is needed. As such the Region of Peel needs to have the right tools in place for the advocacy of those unable to do so themselves. Part of development would be offering training for staff.

Other opportunities would be to provide specialized facility care.

Earlier in the year, you may remember the Malton Village Butterfly Home expanded the Dementia Butterfly Care Model across Peel Long Term Care centres. This project aimed to meet the needs of those living with dementia.

“The numbers are pretty scary, it is one out of three [people living with dementia], it’s now sixty-five years old, that’s really scary,” says Ward 5 Regional Councillor for Town of Caledon, Annette Groves.

Groves mentioned that a large component of increasing the opportunities to grow projects such as the Butterfly Project was receiving funding from the new government. The Butterfly Project has received attention from various individuals and similar models have sprung up across the province.

Some other ideas were offered by several councillor such as offering more seniors centres for physical activities, nutrition and offering testing for families with a history of dementia.

Do you feel like your elderly loved ones are thriving in Mississauga?

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