On Tuesday morning, I had a coffee in a local restaurant and had a fantastic conversation with a gentleman, I was shocked at what he told me, and did some research. Now, I know that inflation exists, I know that certain things are inherently expensive, but what I heard thoroughly disgusted me.
The gentleman was discussing his mother, who requires a bit of extra care and lives in a home in the Okanagan. Between his sister and himself, and his mother’s savings and pension, they pay in excess of $7,000 a month for her to reside in this home. At first I thought that this was a unique setting, but no, it is the standard across B.C. The gentleman is on a small disability pension.
If I look at my old job at the pulp mill, and what my wages would be today, those wages would just cover the cost of my parent being in care. Of course, pensions, and the pensions of a spouse or dead spouse would help, but the simple amount being charged is a disgrace. In my own home, with a mortgage, groceries, vehicles, and two kids, we do not even approach this amount, and when one considers the quality of food served at many of these homes and the extra charges that are required, it staggers the mind.
We focus a lot on the cost of daycare and the inability some families have with having their children cared for, but imagine the kind of net income a family needs to have, if an elderly parent from one or both sides of the family requires care? Seven to fourteen thousand dollars, on top of the day-to-day living by your own family, raising children and preparing for your own retirement.
Regardless of your status, and income, the sheer amount being charged, especially when one hears the horror stories of how the elderly are treated, and the conditions in some of these homes, is obscene. There is no reason for this other than it making someone extremely rich on the misfortune of others.
I heard that someone I knew had to pay extra for her husband to come and have dinner with her every day, so he brought food from home, and that was later disallowed. When you look at this, and the pathetic amounts paid in pensions, you realize just how bad the elderly are treated.
Michael Maslen
Prince George
