Dear Editor;
I am writing about a health care issue regarding seniors.
The Alberta government has been running advertisements throughout the province advising us of the shift to one large health region. The ad states that this change, “would not affect the front-line health staff. Health care services will continue to be there when and where you need it.”
The union (Alberta Union of Public Employees) representing health care aides and licensed practical nurses (the front-line staff in nursing homes, extended care facilities, senior lodges and home care) states the union membership are holding ‘rallies’ outside certain facilities to draw attention to the fact that care aides and LPNs are having more and more difficulty keeping up with the care required by our seniors in these facilities. Does this sound like, “health care services will continue to be there when and where you need it”? Sounds like our seniors are not being looked after as well as they could be.
The biggest difficulty seems to be finding workers wanting to work in the care aide field. Maybe it is the fact that in Alberta our starting wage is $13.48/hr plus most of us are only offered part-time positions so we need a second job to help pay the mortgage. Someone doing private housekeeping earns $20/hr and they have not had to spend $2,000 on a care aide course to enable them to work. In Alberta, we are required to take professional courses to enable us to give better care to our seniors but we are not financially compensated for it compared to other industries.
The going rate at some fast-food restaurants is $15/hr and up. Care aides in British Columbia earn $19/hr; in Saskatchewan their starting wage is $16.29/hr. In Alberta, $16.90 is the maximum we can earn. Manitoba pays 50 cents more than Alberta for a starting rate of $13.96.
LPN’s wages are $4/hr less at $17.91/hr compared to BC, Saskatchewan and Manitoba wage rates.
With such a low starting wage compared to other industries, it is no wonder we are working short staffed at senior facilities. And, when we have to work short-staffed, it is the resident senior who loses out.
I will soon be a senior and I am very concerned about the care I am going to receive if I have to enter a long-term care facility. At the rate we are kept alive these days (they can replace every part for us, it seems), there are more and more residents who need complete care. This means they can no longer dress themselves, feed themselves and keep themselves clean. It takes two care aides to help them. There isn’t enough time in an eight-hour shift for two or three caregivers to attend to 25 residents to ensure they are bathed, dressed, fed, laid down for a rest, fed again…and on and on it goes. It is the senior resident that loses out.
Quality of life isn’t that great at this stage in our lives but I would hope we could, at least, provide adequate care to keep the seniors comfortable.
Our union contract expired March 31, 2008. Since April 2004, our wage has increased by $1.14/hr over four years – that is a raise of 35 cents a year. Doesn’t seem like much to me. Does it to you? Especially when we are looking after your mothers and fathers, aunts and uncles, grandmothers, seniors in your family.
For those who have loved ones in these facilities, you know how hard it is for us to do all the things that need to be done to keep your loved one happy and comfortable. We need more help. Maybe bumping up our wage by a couple of dollars an hour would help. We are definitely worth it! There should be some dollars freed up from this new health region structure. Maybe less money required for administration and that money could be directed to the front-line workers, giving more incentive for younger Albertans to enter our field of work.
We’d like to receive more financial recognition without having to force the issue. We need you all to contact the Alberta Minister of Health, the Hon. Ron Liepert, advising him of your support to this issue. Send him an e-mail at: calgary.west@assembly.ab.ca or a letter to: #323 Legislature Building, 10800-97 Ave., Edmonton, T5K-2B6.
Don’t wait until you have need of our care and we aren’t able to be there when you need us! We need something now!
Donna Du Bois
Health Care Aide and an ‘almost senior’
Three Hills, Alta.