Ontario Announces $100 million Investment in New Dementia Strategy
On May 4, 2017 the Ontario Government announced a commitment to expand access to high quality care for persons living with dementia and their caregivers. An investment of $100 million over three years was announced to support an Ontario Dementia Strategy.
Although details of the strategy have not been released, Health Minister Dr. Eric Hoskins and Minister of Seniors Affairs, Dipika Damerla announced the following commitments:
- Increasing access to adult day programs for people with dementia and additional hours of care and transportation to help people travel to their local program location.
- Enhancing caregiver supports and respite services, both in-home or overnight, so that caregivers can schedule breaks for rest, family commitments or other priorities.
- Expanding behavioural supports, which are tools and techniques used to address behavioural symptoms of dementia, in all long-term care homes and providing similar support at home and in the community.
- Improving the coordination of care, including building strong partnerships between primary, specialist and community care providers that are critical to help people with dementia live well.
- Continuing to invest in health care providers' education with in-person, educational resources and public awareness about the signs and symptoms of dementia to support geriatric care.
- Raising awareness about dementia risk factors and reducing stigma through targeted public awareness campaigns to inform and educate people in Ontario about dementia and how to maintain a healthy brain.
View 10 Key Investments of the new Dementia Strategy here.
Implications for Occupational Therapists
Occupational therapists will applaud significant funding commitments to support people living with dementia. The profession has much to offer to help persons living with the disease as well as their families/caregivers across the health care system from primary care, to home and community services to long-term care.
OSOT has advocated to promote the important roles occupational therapists play across the continuum of the disease and have promoted the need for increased access to OT services in both the community and long-term care homes. We hope to see the recommendations and work of the Society recognized in the emerging details of the Dementia Strategy.
Occupational therapists are encouraged to promote the profession and the contributions of OT services to meeting the needs of those living with dementia in their workplaces, with their referral sources, to home and community agencies and long-term care homes and to their Local Health Integration Networks.