Supports needed in local health care

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I strongly suggest that we continue to preserve hospital resources for those who really need them, but at the same time, enhance the community’s capacity to receive services and supports closer to our homes and families/ friends.They who take on the burden of providing informal supports at a significant cost to their lives. Their sacrifices reduce the cost of acute care in the hospitals. Family/friends too need supports in supporting their sick relatives. Evidence substantiates the fact that by providing necessary services and supports within the community allows people to receive linguistically and culturally appropriate services that meet the needs of diverse, multicultural communities, including Aboriginal peoples. Sufficient research data indicates a reduction in overall costs in the institutional care (hospitals and jails) when investments are made in the community-based resources, i.e., prevention, health promotion, psycho-social supports, home care, supportive housing, family supports, supported employment, drop-ins, peer supports self-help, etc. The “medical model of care” doesn’t necessarily provide the same benefits in the community when compared with the psych-social model of care and supports.

Let’s not repeat the same mistakes of the past where institution-based services were reduced but sufficient resources were not invested in the community to respond to the new demands created by the deinstitutionalization. We must strengthen the linkages between the hospitals and the community-based care, as well as address the regional differences such

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as transportation issues from the isolated rural communities to the resource rich urban centers. Let’s learn from past mistakes as we address the pressures related to the health-care. Funding must be tied with the ex- pected results, and those who can demonstrate through their outcomes must be rewarded. This means, developing comprehensive outcome measurements and applying it to all the service providers equally. Even the community-based services and supports must go through an accreditation process to justify their funding and their quality of services. We don’t need to reinvent the wheel. Enhancing the community’s capacity in taking care of its citizens in a cost-effective manner is the only answer as we struggle with the defined resources.