REGINA - The way in which seniors are treated by the public system in long term carewas a hot issue during this final week of the fall sitting of the Legislature.
During the last Question Period of the year on Tuesday, Opposition Leader Carla Beck brought up the plight of Helmut Nachtigall and his experience as a resident of Pioneer Village, which is a Saskatchewan Health Authority owned-and-operated care home in Regina.
“Mr. Speaker, we’re joined today in your gallery by Jeff Nachtigall. Jeff’s 86-year-old dad, Helmut, was living at Pioneer Village here in Regina. But Jeff and the family pulled him out because Helmut wasn’t getting anything close to the care that he needs, that he deserves. And now they’re paying out of pocket for private care that they simply can’t afford. What does the Premier have to say to Jeff about the way that his dad was simply failed by the public health care system in our province?
In response, Minister of Health Jeremy Cockrill said his government has “worked with long-term care providers all throughout the province” and was “committed to ensuring that families and seniors have access to care that’s appropriate in their communities, Mr. Speaker. I can assure Jeff and his family that the ministry will absolutely work with his family to find an opportunity for his father.”
The new MLA for Saskatoon Churchill-Wildwood Keith Jorgenson also spoke, saying “it brings me absolutely no joy to rise to talk again about the chaos in our long-term care system.”
“Jeff is here today to talk about how the healthcare system failed his dad, Helmut. Jeff is mad, and he has every right to be mad at what happened to his dad: broken bones, soiled clothing, restrained for hours at a time. Saskatchewan seniors who built this province deserve better than this. Helmut and so many others, this is not the case. The system is failing them.”
Jorgenson asked if Jeff would meet with the Minister of Health today. Minister of Remote and Rural Health Lori Carr pledged a meeting would happen.
“Mr. Speaker, what the member opposite talks about is unacceptable,” said Carr, who pledged to look into the situation. “I’ve already committed to meeting with Jeff later today, and that’s what I will do, and we will look into this further.”
In speaking to reporters following Question Period, Jeff Nachtigall pulled no punches in his allegations about the conditions under which his father had experienced.
“It wasn't just Pioneer Village. It was his entire journey through the system,” he said.
“So beginning at the hospital, it all started in respite, then the hospital, then the transitional care unit, and then at Pioneer Village on their dementia floor, which turns out to be a bit more of a behavioural unit. It's a lot more complex, so it's not exactly a positive environment for an 86-year-old man with dementia. A lot of physical restraining, a lot of chemical restraints… This was just an ongoing battle. So it was just an unfortunate circumstance that was turning into something that just got worse for dad.”
He pointed to a number of situations, including one incident where his dad’s toes were broken. According to Jeff it was apparently due to someone running over his dad’s toes in a wheelchair.
Jeff also made it known in strong terms how unimpressed he was with the facility itself.
“Walking through there and seeing all of this, I mean, it makes ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest’ look, you know, like a cruise ship.”
As for how his father ended up at this particular unit at Pioneer Village, Jeff said this:
“When Dad was being moved from the transitional care unit, they said that he had three options, and that the way the system works, that it was basically going to be first bed, first facility. So whatever came open first is where Dad was going to go.
“They reassessed him for a dementia unit. Prior to that, he was just a wander guard, which is basically you have a bracelet on and it just means the door's locked. But he could have been in a number of different long-term care facilities at that point. But with that reassessment, their logic was is that perhaps that'll place him in a long-term care situation quicker. And as a family, we consented. But we feel a little bit misled, because had we known that the dementia unit at Pioneer Village was more of a complex care behavioural unit, we would have protested.”
He added that “you become helpless. You know, you're working with professionals and with a system that you think has your back and your best interests in mind. But it didn't. I mean, it failed us, it failed my dad, and it's failing others. Everything is the waiting list, which are years long.”
Eventually, Jeff said, the family pulled Helmut out of Pioneer Village and placed him into private care. As a result, he said, his dad’s quality of life has improved.
“We were so lucky that dad was able to go into this facility, because, again, they have very long waiting lists as well. And it's not perfect there… But dad is doing so much better. I mean, he walks around the hallways now singing, instead of avoiding certain rooms, because he knew that there might be an aggressive or physical or violent confrontation with another resident.”
The issue, he said, is that the private care is unaffordable. Jeff said he’s had to give up the paintbrush as an artist to go work in the mines to help with the costs, which he said are upwards of $10,000.
“Dad was a retired Lutheran minister, and I made the mistake of following my passions and becoming an artist. So I don't have deep pockets to subsidize my parents' care.”
He adds that for him this issue “isn't something about pointing a finger or even laying blame. It's about doing something about it… This is not a partisan issue. Everybody's in the same boat. And I just would hope that nobody else goes through the experience that we did.”
After meeting with Jeff afterwards, Minister Carr told reporters afterwards they had a “really good meeting.” She indicated they would follow up on the concerns raised.
“Every individual that goes into one of our homes deserves dignity. He has explained the situation to me and we will be looking into that.”
