Older adults are turning to food banks at an alarming rate and are the fastest growing group of visitors in Canada, according to HungerCount 2021.
Food bank use has increased by a staggering 36 per cent among Ontario residents 65 and older in 2021 alone and has ballooned by 64 per cent since 2008. This holiday season, an unprecedented number of older Canadians will be struggling with food insecurity and hunger.
Covid risk assessment calculators are a recent weapon in people’s quest to go about their normal lives while staying safe. This one was created by Canada’s National Institute on Ageing, and it asked him questions such as how many people would be at the gathering, how old everyone is and whether everyone had been fully vaccinated.
Read More“Everyone started this pandemic saying COVID doesn’t discriminate. It absolutely does. And it preys on every societal vulnerability we have — biological and social in particular,” said geriatrician Dr. Samir Sinha, the co-chair of the National Institute on Ageing at Ryerson University.
“Older women are much more likely to be living in poverty — and women outlive men. We know the greatest at-risk older population are older single women as they are disproportionately poorer. And those who are racialized are hit the hardest.”
How many co-ordinators do we need for one patient requiring half an hour of care a week? “The private companies are really interested in giving you as much care as possible, because they just send the bill back to the government,” says Dr. Samir Sinha, a leading geriatrician and Director of Health Policy Research at the National Institute on Ageing. But he agrees there is a lot of bureaucracy and the partners involved don’t always share information, which is one reason the private companies need their own co-ordinators and their own assessments.
Read MoreThe National Institute on Ageing, in partnership with the Public Health Agency of Canada, has developed an online tool that allows people to input factors and assess the risk of contracting COVID-19 in advance of an upcoming gathering. There is both a three-minute survey and a more comprehensive 10-minute survey. “It’s as if you have your own private epidemiologist or infectious disease expert,” said Dr. Samir Sinha, NIA Director of Health Policy Research.
Read MoreThe study, conducted by NIA Associate Fellow Edgardo Sepulveda and Ann-Sylvia Brooker of the University Health Network in Toronto, found that higher income inequality in a country was associated with more COVID-19 deaths across all age groups. There are a number of possible explanations for this association, such as a larger proportion of the population being more at risk. This may be due to higher exposure, more comorbidities or poorer access to treatment.
Read MoreIn October, Ryerson University’s National Institute on Ageing unveiled a survey that it had conducted in collaboration with HomeEquity Bank. The survey found that 77% of Canadian respondents in the 55-69 demographic are worried about their financial health. Worse, 79% of respondents revealed that their retirement income would not be enough for a comfortable retirement.
Read MoreIn Canada, at least 92% of seniors are vaccinated against COVID-19. Now experts want that same success with routine vaccinations. "We have to realize that there are actual things that we can do to prevent a lot of unnecessary death," said Dr. Samir Sinha, NIA Director of Health Policy Research. The NIA is targeting the big three: influenza, pneumococcal disease and shingles.
Read More"If someone wants to have the privilege of working with a frail, older person, we need to make sure that they're doing everything they can to protect the people that they're caring for," said Dr. Samir Sinha, NIA Director of Health Policy Research.
His one piece of advice: bring in a vaccine mandate for all staff and ensure everyone gets a third dose as quickly as possible.
Dr. Samir Sinha, Director of Health Policy Research, said there’s no reason why the province couldn’t launch a third-dose vaccination push for long-term-care staff similar to that for residents in late August.
“When you already have an understaffed system, and then there’s a risk that staff are more likely to get infected and potentially get sick and be off, that puts everybody more at risk,” he said, noting he believes it’s “inevitable” a number of homes will see Omicron outbreaks.
“Older people have lots going on at the same time,” Dr. Samir Sinha, NIA Director of Health Policy Research, said.
He suggests retirees, with the support of family members or friends as needed, prepare for their doctor appointment well in advance to prevent potential health issues from being missed.
Read More"We're worried that unless we give staff that extra layer of protection [booster shots], will we see a huge growth of outbreaks in these [long-term care] homes again, where sometimes this population doesn't respond as well to the vaccine as other populations," says Dr. Samir Sinha, NIA Director of Health Policy Research.
Read MoreOntario’s Medical Officer of Health Kieran Moore announced the third doses of COVID-19 vaccines will soon be available to anyone 50 years of age and over. "We know a lot of other countries around the world are saying we don't consider you vaccinated unless you've had three doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. Booster shots really will make a difference for a lot of people," says Dr. Samir Sinha, NIA Director of Health Policy Research.
Read More“Many Canadians were unable to gather in person over the holidays last year,” says NIA Executive Director, Michael Nicin. "Many of us are looking forward to spending time with our loved ones in the weeks ahead. COVIDVisitRisk.com, which uses the best available scientific evidence to assign an individual risk level to a gathering, can support Canadians to meet with care and to take the necessary precautions to help keep those they love healthy.”
Read MoreGet a better quality of sleep
Dr. Sinha, the NIA Director of Health Policy Research says the first thing he tells people who ask how to get a better sleep is that they're going to get frustrated if they expect to sleep as soundly in their 60s and 70s as they did in their 20s and 30s, because our sleep patterns change naturally with age.
Read MoreRebooting long-term care
“We currently spend between $22 billion and $24 billion… across Canada providing long-term care,” says Dr. Samir Sinha, NIA Director of Health Policy Research. “Each of the provinces and territories have been left to their own devices to figure out how they may want to provide long-term care services. Funding levels vary significantly, coverage levels vary, the way it’s organized varies, the terminology significantly varies. While you can say hospitals in one province are like hospitals in another, long-term care looks very different, not only across provinces and territories in Canada, but even within provinces and territories.”
Read MoreOn Thursday, Dr. Samir Sinha, Director of Health Policy Research at the NIA, told Markusa that Manitoba won't get ahead of the outbreaks in long-term care facilities without mandatory vaccinations for workers.
Read MoreCanada has officially reached a vaccination milestone. Our tracker outlines every dose delivered on what's been a long journey
“Being able to develop a vaccine against COVID-19 within a year is frankly a miracle of science, and it’s a gift that we shouldn’t squander,” said Dr. Samir Sinha, Director of Health Policy Research at the NIA. “The sooner we all get vaccinated, and we reach a vaccinated level of herd immunity we’ll have our freedom again as Canadians.”
Read More"In Manitoba right now we have about six homes that are in outbreak, and in Ontario we have a total of eight, and that's 13 million people. Ontario put a staff vaccine mandate in place. And by doing that, we raised our staff vaccination rates from 90% to about 98% and we haven't had a single death in our long-term care homes since October 20th," says Dr. Sinha, NIA Director of Health Policy Research.
Read MoreCare home visitor policies: a global scan of the latest strategies in countries with high vaccination rates
This scan has been carried out by members of LTCcovid network (including NIA's Dr. Samir Sinha, Natalie Iciaszczyk, and Cameron Feil), a global platform that shares learning on COVID policy and practice responses in long-term care systems. It includes detailed case studies from six countries: Australia, Canada, Iceland, Israel, Norway and the Netherlands.
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