Home Care Ontario Commends Government Investments to Help More Ontarians Stay Safe at Home

TORONTO, Sept. 25, 2020 /CNW/ - Home Care Ontario, the voice of home care in the province, commends today's announcement of additional financial resources to make home care a key part of Ontario's COVID-19 preparedness plan.  By moving up to 850 alternative level of care (ALC) patients from hospitals and into more appropriate home and community settings, as well as investing $100 million to deliver more home care supports to Ontarians, the province is acting on a key learning from the first wave of the pandemic – that the best way for everyone to stay healthy is to stay at home.  

"Ontario's home care system is a key part of Ontario's fight against COVID-19, and a critical tool to allow the province to restart elective surgeries," said Sue VanderBent, CEO of Home Care Ontario.  "The pandemic has proven that staying safe and healthy at home has never been more important to people, especially our seniors."

With today's investments, the home care sector can create health system capacity by supporting more recovering surgical  patients go home safely and help ALC patients to move home faster and with the right supports.  More home care will also reduce the number of non-essential visits to hospitals and will give seniors options to avoid crowds and congregate settings.

"Our research shows that 93 per cent of Ontario's seniors would prefer to stay at home with additional home care as they age rather than move into another care setting," concluded VanderBent.  "Today's announcement will make that desire a reality for many."

About Home Care Ontario:

Home Care Ontario, the voice of home care in Ontario^TM, is a member-based organization with a mandate to promote growth and development of the home care sector through advocacy, knowledge transfer, and member service. Home Care Ontario members include those engaged in and/or supportive of home-based health care. In Ontario, service provider organizations are responsible for providing nursing care, home support services, personal care, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, respiratory therapy, infusion therapy, social work, dietetics, speech language therapy and medical equipment and supplies in the home to individuals of all ages. An estimated 58 million hours of publicly and privately purchased home care service is provided annually across the province.

SOURCE Home Care Ontario

For interviews, please contact: Nancy Cupido, 905-975-5226, [email protected]