What are our care-years?

Why should we, as Canadians, take time to plan for them now?

Our care-years stage of life, quite simply, is just another stage in our lifetime, such as our school-years, our working-career years, our family-raising years and our retirement years, all of which we need to plan well in advance for if we are going to have a quality of life during that stage.

BUT how is this stage defined, you ask, well, our ‘care-years' is defined as 'a period of time when we need to obtain some services in order to remain living in our own homes, in an independent manner' (i.e. help with some of our everyday lifestyle activities that we used to do for ourselves but now cannot do on our own as well or as easily anymore). Statistics Canada tells us that many of us enter our ‘care-years stage of life' at the approximate age of 70 years.

Well then, what is long-term care (LTC)?

We are in what is called long-term care (LTC) when we need services (help) ‘on an on-going basis' (at least 3 months in a row) because we can no longer, for some health reason or due to our aging, do some of our normal everyday activities of living.

Think about it this way, what did you do this morning from the time you woke up. Did you get out of bed, walk to the bathroom, shower, do your toiletries, get dressed, prepare breakfast, get your medications ready and take them appropriately, tidy-up the kitchen, do some home chores, drive to an appointment, meet friends, return home, prepare lunch….and so forth?

When we no longer can do several of those regular things on our own, as a result of a chronic illness or a stroke or heart condition or a severe accident or from the aging process itself and we need some help with these everyday things each day (things we have taken for granted most of our lives), then we are in need of long-term care; and if we are in need because of growing older, then we have entered our long-term care years stage of our life.

And why is long-term care such an important factor when it comes to our lifestyle and retirement planning?

A straight-forward answer: Because getting the care (that is help) we need, when we need it, is expensive…darn costly both emotionally and financially!

Yes, our family will help out as our care-givers, but for how long and at what cost to their own lives; yes, our spouse will help out as a care-giver, but at what cost to her/his health; yes, we can get some government services and I know we all feel entitled to these services, but what actually exists now and for whom and what are the criteria and for how long will our provincial/territorial governments be able to offer these programs?

The bottom-line is that we need to plan carefully for this stage of our life and thus not become dependent on our loved ones or on our federal or provincial or territorial government programs, so we can keep our much-treasured independence as long as possible.

Here is a hint for seniors and for those Canadians with aging parents--take a good look at the pie-graph below as it gives us an indication of how long we may spend in the big three stages of our life...the real question becomes, what part of our retirement years that we plan so very carefully for and look forward to, will we be spending needing some care, since these care services are expensive and thus we have to look ahead to cover those as part of our retirement plan.

As well, what if we need those long-term care services early on in our lives due to an accident or a major health condition, have we planned for those costs in our everyday lifestyle planning, what will be the impact on our family, our jobs, our future? In addition, have we planned for our parents' long-term care as it is going to have a significant impact on our lives?

So, the answer to why we have to plan as soon as possible for a long-term care stage of our lives is two-fold, one because it can occur unexpectedly anytime in our lives and two, because, as Canadians, we are probably going to live long lives as seniors and have need of those everyday services when we can't do all for ourselves. 

 

Want to learn more about family care giving in our country? Click here to read a Health Canada Survey of adult Canadians who are currently providing care to a family member.

 

Want to understand the differences in how each of our provinces and territories approach home care? Click here for a synthesis.

 

Interested in obtaining a free 'Guide" on living options in your province? Click here to order.

 

For a Profile and Fact Sheets on Canada's Senior's click here.

 

Of interest: Why is long-term care an issue now in our country? Before—We died from poor health Now—We live…with poor health—thus dependency Before—Institutional care Now—Community based care by families and friends is the norm; seniors want to age-in-place Before—Low life expectancy and high fertility level Now—High life expectancy and low fertility levels Before--Families stayed together-- an expectation that children would be caregivers Now—A high divorce rate, less contact with children who often live some distance from parents and are less likely to be able to give care Before—There were less women in our labor force Now—Significantly more women in the labor force for longer periods of time and care giving has a direct impact on retirement

 

Health of Older Canadians 4 out of 5 seniors living at home suffer from a chronic health condition Most common chronic health problems are arthritis and rheumatism, followed by high blood pressure, allergies, back problems, chronic heart problems, cataracts and diabetes 1 out of 4 Canadian seniors has a long-term disability or handicap (1997 numbers) Senior women live longer than senior men, but only about one quarter to one-third of those extra years are spent free from disability Seniors aged 85 and over were 70% more likely that seniors 65-74 to suffer an injury that limits their activities Senior women are nearly 60% more likely to suffer an injury than senior men Falls are a main cause of injury, accounting for, in the 90s, 84% of injury-related hospital admissions, and 585 of deaths among seniors population

 

Interested in becoming certified? If you work with seniors or have senior clients, click here.