The Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists welcomes the B.C. government’s decision to update and amend the Community Care and Assisted Living Act.
The move will have a substantially positive impact on the health and independence of B.C. residents living with assisted care.
As occupational therapists, we believe that an individual’s health and well being is enhanced by their ability to carry out meaningful, everyday tasks at home or at work. For many B.C.’s seniors, some of these tasks can only be achieved in an assisted living setting.
Under the old rules, seniors who required two or more prescribed services (such as assistance with eating or hygiene, financial management or medication management) would be expected to leave an assisted living setting and move into a full service residential care home. The amended Act removes the limits on prescribed services so seniors can remain in their home-like setting longer. This has the added benefit of reducing long waitlists for residential care facilities.
Occupational therapists play an important role in empowering seniors to maintain their independence by teaching new skills or routines, providing adaptive equipment, or making changes to their existing environment. This improves a person’s physical and mental health while reducing health care costs by postponing moves to more expensive facilities.
Removing legislative barriers is an excellent step to increasing access to rehabilitation services, including occupational therapy. However, such a move must also include increased resources to pay for those services.
As B.C.’s senior population grows so will pressures on acute and residential care services. Increasing residents’ access to occupational therapy can mitigate these pressures, while allowing seniors to remain happily independent for as long as possible.
Giovanna Boniface
Managing Director of Canadian
Association of Occupational Therapists