Pat Armstrong, professor emeritus at York University, gave a lecture titled, ‘Where is the Joy in Nursing Homes?’ at St. Thomas University on Oct 3.
The lecture delved into what Armstrong believes are areas where Canadian nursing homes are lacking.
Armstrong noted the specific need for interpersonal relationships between patients and workers and the ability of patients to exercise choice as important factors in healthy nursing homes.
Her research on the conditions of nursing homes took her to Sweden and Norway. These countries, led by their strong welfare state, were able to give much better care to residents.
“There was the cinema that they could go to and all of these residents also had direct access to the outdoors,” said Armstrong. “The whole feel of the [nursing homes] were different.”
The lecture had over 70 people in attendance including students, seniors and nurses.
Albert Banerjee, associate professor of gerontology at STU, is a former student of Armstrong’s. He spoke on the importance of the people being affected by the system.
“It’s a very visceral reminder that we are expecting care on the backs of people that are exploited,” said Banerjee. “That’s not sustainable.”
A personal service worker spoke up after the lecture voicing their concerns with the current system that they have witnessed at a local nursing home.
They spoke about how the workers are underpaid, overworked and underappreciated by upper management, only being seen by their supervisors when the worker made a mistake.
“You could hear it in her voice, she was agonized,” said Banerjee.
There were several key differences between nursing homes in Scandinavian countries and Canada according to Armstrong.
“One of the things that the residents said is that we can engage in all of this stuff without putting our shoes on,” said Armstrong. “[Nursing homes] weren’t intended to be a home like your private home, but they were a place where people could feel at home.”
Banerjee discussed how Canadian nursing homes are different than Scandinavian nursing homes, mainly noting how Canadian homes can overcomplicate processes.
“We regulate the wrong things … we’ll regulate how long it takes for you to respond to a call, but we won’t provide you with enough staff,” said Banerjee.
The lecture put into perspective what can be done to fix nursing homes in Canada which have been addressed in other parts of the world.
“How do we trade incentives for accountability measures that support the whole person? I think as a culture we’re not ready to do that,” said Banerjee.
