Dani presently resides at a children's hospital, and must leave. The
Ministry of Health has given her 2 alternatives for a lifelong residence.
1. Group Home
A group home houses 5-10 people in one location. The residents are chosen by
the management. Residents are not necessarily compatible: socially,
emotionally, or intellectually.
A manager generally hires, trains and supervises staff who care for the
residents. Routines are set up to maximize staff time. Meals, activities
etc are usually decided by the staff. They may or may not be based on the
interests or preferences of the residents.
If a resident has a problem with their service, they may complain to the
manager who will then discuss the problem with the staffperson in question.
Lodging a complaint is very difficult for someone who must continue to
receive care from this staffperson.
During the day there is usually 1 staffperson to care for 3 residents, with
a heavier load during the evening and night shifts. This staffperson must
also shop, prepare meals, clean up the kitchen, bathroom and residents’
rooms, phone for Wheeltrans, record care notes etc. If a staffperson must
accompany somoeone to a doctor’s appointment, another staff must add the
remaining residents to their care load for that period of time. In the
course of a day, there is very little opportunity for a resident to access
the community or pursue any individual interests.
A staffperson usually spends 2 hours each shift doing non-personal duties
(cooking, cleaning, shopping), and 1 hour break per shift. Thus each of 3
residents will receive a maximum of 1.7 hours of help per shift. This is not
enough time for even bathing, dressing, feeding, toileting etc. Quality of
life activities are usually not part of life in a group home.
It takes Dani about 45 minutes to comfortably eat a meal without choking.
This means a daily total of 2.25 hours each day. A bath takes 1.5 hours to
get her out of her clothes, onto the shower cart, bathe, blow dry her hair,
and get into her nightie. Already she has exceeded her daily staff care
time, and we have not included time to go to the toilet. A group home
situation does not give Dani the help she needs.
2. Long Term Care Institution
The second alternative is to live in an institution, surrounded by the aged,
the sick, and the dying. This is not an appropriate home for an alert young
woman who wants to remain involved in the community. Furthermore, it is an
unnecessarily costly solution for someone who in not sick.
The Ministry of Health has suggested Dani live in Riverdale hospital. The
staff : client ratio is 6:52 (days), 1:19 (evenings) and 1:36 (nights). This
would give Dani an average of 1.36 hours of care in each 24 hour period. She
is has not control of her hands or limbs and needs help with all physical
activities:
getting in and out of bed, bathing, dressing, feeding, brushing hair,
brushing teeth, getting in and out of her chair, toileting, opening mail,
calling Wheeltrans etc. She also needs added time for communication. This is
not possible in 81 minutes a day.
Furthermore, the average per diem cost at Riverdale is $254.79. This means
that the Ministry of Health would be paying $187.35 /hour for her care. This
is very poor value.
Dani believes she has a better solution.