Williams Lake senior Diana French has been in the Cariboo Memorial Hospital since early November and is now hoping to get a full-care bed in one of the community’s three long-term care facilities.
“I’ve heard it can take up to two years to get into long-term care,” the 92-year-old said Monday, Dec. 4.
“I will be getting assessed and then a request will go to Interior Health to put me on the waiting list.”
Up until two years ago, French was living independently in an apartment downtown, but when she started to have difficulty walking she decided she needed to give up the apartment and moved into Williams Lake Seniors Village.
“I was still driving, but I couldn’t get out of my vehicle,” she said. “Now I cannot walk without help, but I could not walk without a walker before I came into the hospital.”
She was initially brought to the hospital on Nov. 4 by ambulance because she was having chest pains and during her stay in the hospital she said she has learned there are other things going on with her “aging” body.
“How can they make you better?” she asked. “You kind of have to learn to work with what you have left.”
French’s mind is sharp.
Even though she is in limbo not knowing if she will be able to return to Seniors Village and move into a full care bed scenario, Deni House or AgeCare, she has been thinking about her predicament and that of other seniors.
“I was thinking what if our MLA Lorne Doerkson and some bright lights from the BC United, the NDP and the Greens formed a committee to work with the provincial government to come up with some solutions. If they were all working together and not complaining things would get done a lot faster. Of course the city and the regional district would have to be involved.”
Since she went into the hospital, she had not submitted her column to the Tribune, something she has been doing for 40 years, but on Monday, Dec. 4, she had one ready she’d written by hand.
Amidst a stack of books and papers on her bedside table, there was a print out of the Office of the Seniors Advocate reported titled Billions More Reasons to Care: Contracted Long-Term Care-Funding Review Update 2023.
Rifling through the report, French pointed out a sentence in a message penned by Isobel Mackenzie, seniors advocate, that read “the importance of reforming the publicly subsidized long-term care funding model cannot be overstated.”
Long-term care in the Williams Lake area
Interior Health confirmed there is some degree of wait period for patients accessing long-term health services, unless an emergency.
Heather Hair, director clinical operations, CMH, said in an emailed response wait times fluctuate depending on several factors, including the number of patients requiring long-term care, their levels of care needed, rates of seasonal illnesses like the flu and more.
Deni House has 19 long-term care spaces - shared or private rooms - and residents come there from different situations, such as assisted living, personal homes, acute care and other facilities.
People seeking long-term care should call Interior Health’s central intake number at 1-800-707-8550. Individuals in Williams Lake can follow the prompts to connect with local home and community services in the Cariboo/Chilcotin region.
Care managers assess a person’s needs and eligibility, and priority is given to those with the greatest need. Care managers also work with individuals and their caregivers to offer a range of community-based services to support individuals to remain at home, often their preferred option.
Potential long-term care residents choose up to three preferred care homes in their community or other B.C. communities where they would like to live.
If they are at increased risk, they will also be offered a spot on an interim care home waiting list. This may facilitate accessing a care home as soon as possible to ensure their needs are met. They will be able to stay at the interim care home until one of their preferred sites becomes available.
Sam Corbett, community relations manager with Williams Lake Seniors Village, noted the village’s long-term care services admission and availability is all maintained by Interior Health.
Interior Health confirmed it also directs residents to AgeCare Cariboo Place in Williams Lake.
READ MORE: B.C. seniors facing housing crunch, risk homelessness
READ MORE: New long-term care home coming to Abbotsford
Don’t miss out on reading the latest local, provincial and national news offered at the Efteen. Sign up for our free newsletter here.
