‘I don’t have sufficient services’: Laval caregiver says older parents need more home care

Angela Piccone says it’s become increasingly difficult to receive home care services for her older parents.

Both of them have several health issues and live at home in Laval, Que.

She gets help from her local health authority but says it’s simply not enough.

“I have two parents who need care, and I don’t have the services for that. I don’t have sufficient services,” she said. “Right now, what the CLSC is offering is six hours a week of respite care, and that’s just for my mom.”

In addition to that, she says the local health authority has offered to send an employee every morning for 30 minutes to help bathe her mother, or access to the direct allowance program for 15 hours a week, but that means it’s up to Piccone to find a caregiver, which isn’t always easy.

Until recently, Piccone did have a caregiver, but that person recently moved on and finding someone new is challenging.

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In a statement to Global News, the Centre intégré de santé et de services sociaux de Laval (CISSS de Laval) said that in in the event that an employee “recruited by the family, as part of the direct allowance program resigns, the Laval CISSS will support the family to find alternatives. In the context of labour shortages, it is possible that these steps may take some time.”

“I wash my mom, I take care of washing her,” Piccone said. “What I need is more surveillance — care for my mom so that I can work during the day.”

Last year, when announcing its major health-care reform plan, the province said there would be a dramatic shift toward caring for people at home instead of in hospitals or residences.

But according to La Presse, there are more than 4,500 waiting for a spot in long-term care homes.

Patients rights advocate Paul Brunet wonders if the plan is working.

“There’s a gap between what these ministers are announcing or have announced and the situation on the field,” Brunet said. “So either they are not telling us the truth of what they want to do or they have lost control of the system, over the bureaucracy.”

Piccone says she hopes the government will make good on its word, for her parents and the thousands of other seniors who need help at home.