Thanks Jackie. I have relatives in Barrie and my Aunt used to live in Etobicoke. It is a beautiful country. I'm a proud Canadian.
northernlights

One thing (an important thing) you in Canada have that we do not is a national health care system. Are you happy with the care your LO is getting? Does it cover (or does another program cover) nursing or skilled care placement and costs?

Just curious!

Hi Judy, I think we have a great healthcare system here.

Our system covers almost everything we have to have done in the way of tests, treatments and Dr. visits. With all the Dr.s visit and all we went through with five kids we never had to put out a cent. I'm also lucky that my husband has drug coverage through his job. Seniors get some of their drugs covered by the government too.
We also have the Community Care Access Center which provides home care workers to help out at home for care and respite and nursing care when needed. Right now I qualify for 10 hours a week of free respite care and the hours will increase to 15 when I need help to bath or do other personal care for my mom. This service also provides any equipment (like walkers or wheelchairs) that we need free for the first three months and then we can buy it or rent it for a reasonable amount. I don't know anything about in home hospice care here but I'm sure I'll be finding out in the next year or so. My Dad went too fast for us to get hospice in.

My mom is lucky because my dad was a veteran so she has good coverage for her drugs, hearing aids and dental care. Through the vets she would also qualify to have help to keep her house repairs done, snow shoveled and grass cut if she were still in her own home.

Our system is good but we also have some problems with it because of the shortage of doctors and the shortage of money for our hospitals. Our ER waits are usually 5-8 hours and if you don't have a family doctor you have to go to a walk-in clinic and wait quite a while to see the Dr. too.
Sometimes we wait months to see a specialist but I have found that they will get you in pretty fast for a serious problem.
Some hospital lack equipment or have to share with other hospitals so there is a long wait when you have to have specialized testing done although this seems to have improved in the last couple of years.
Some of the drugs used in cancer treatment or detection aren't always covered by the government but we have a pretty good cancer society that helps people to cover those costs. They do a lot of fund raising.
I hope that I have answered your question but if I haven't given you enough detail just ask.
northernlights

Me again.
I just reread your question and you asked about placement for skilled care. I didn't place my grandmothers or my father so I don't really know about how that works but a friend of mine placed her mother and I know that she had no money so the government must pay if you are not able. They probably use the person's old age pension as the payment.
Maybe someone else here knows more about that.
I plan to keep my mother in my home and have set in place plans to have extra help as needed. Keeping my fingers crossed that we can pull this off.
northernlights

My MIL had a problem with Aricept and a dopamine blocker. Drug names here and in the US are different so I don't know what the medication she took corresponded to.

It was prescribed, with Aricept, by the first doctor who saw her, the dementia specialist, as she was quite paranoid and aggressive at that time. Her scan showed a deficit in the left frontal lobe as well as the hippocampus, the doctor told us she has 'mixed dementia'.

The Aricept began to work wonders for her, but suddenly she went into an almost comatose state, not a true coma but pretty unresponsive. She couldn't eat, sit up, needed pull-ups for the first time. It turned out that the combination of the two medications gave her a severe electrolyte imbalance. She came out of it in a couple of days with saline IVs. She was taken off the dopamine blocker immediately and since has done very well with Aricept alone. She still has suspicions about people and things she can't find, but it isn't worth the risk to give her another medication.