An elderly couple wait to cross the road
The waiting list for seniors homes continues to grow, that according to the Coalition for Seniors and Nursing Home Residents Rights.
Executive Director Cecile Cassista says for May, there were 100 seniors in Saint John waiting to get into a nursing home.
“We need to get out seniors out of hospital, we need to put them in a nice environment, a special care home, some of them are actually quite nice. But they need to make sure they are affordable so seniors can live there.”
Moncton has the highest waiting list numbers in the province, with 208. 121 of those seniors are currently in hospital.
“These numbers are for May, and we are now at the end of June. I am really concerned that as the weather begins to warm up, the heat will mean more of our seniors in the hospitals,” Cassista says.
She adds that the assessment process for seniors to get into homes, takes forever. In New Brunswick seniors fall under Social Development whereas in other provinces, they are under Health.
Cassista says, “Seniors staying in a hospital beds costs the taxpayers $800 to $1000 per day.”
She says, “We’ve got a real crisis in this province, but no one seems to want to take the bull by the horns and move this forward. It’s sad, especially when New Brunswick has an aging population with numbers rising.”
