'devastated' seniors will get fewer hot meals and support after underfunded programs cut services and raise prices
5 minute read
claire paulin says she was “heartbroken" at news that the olde forge community resource would have to make cuts to its day programs.
ashley fraser
/
postmedia
more frail seniors in ottawa will be isolated at home and forced to turn to food banks as a result of program cuts and price increases in services that help people remain independent, heads of community service organizations are warning.
ottawa’s meals on wheels and the olde forge community resource centre in britannia are two of 31 community support agencies across eastern ontario that have been pleading with the ontario government for a funding increase for months, warning their programs are not sustainable without it. that increase, of about $7 million, did not come in time for the new fiscal year on april 1, so organizations were forced to cut back on programs or, in the case of meals on wheels, raise prices to keep running.
the cuts are devastating to the people who rely on the services and come at a time when demand is increasing, said colleen taylor, executive director of olde forge. she said some people who participated in the programs cried when they learned the non-profit agency would have to make cuts affecting day programs as well as drives to medical appointments.
“the recent provincial budget did not address our concerns over chronic underfunding by the province in this sector and we have no choice but now to start cutting programs,” taylor said in a statement about the cuts. she said the cuts came at a time when the number of people in need of services “has increased exponentially.”
advertisement
eighty-three-year-old claire paulin, who uses a wheelchair and is legally blind, is among those affected.
“i was heartbroken when they said they would have to cut the day programs,” paulin said. “it will be devastating, not just for me, but for other people in the programs.”
paulin said she relied on the programs and people at olde forge for support and companionship, but would have less of that now. “it would be very difficult for me to live alone if i didn’t have them.”
both taylor of olde forge and baudouin st. cyr, executive director of meals on wheels (ottawa), say the demand for their support has grown substantially since the covid-19 pandemic began, and the programs are helping to keep people independent. that is one reason why ceos of every hospital in the region supported their efforts to obtain a funding increase, taylor said, because they know the programs are crucial to keeping people out of the overburdened acute care health system.
st. cyr said he had been hearing from people saying they could no longer afford meals on wheels and were either cancelling or cutting back.
“they are sad and scared because food is critical, but their rent is also going through the roof.”
the program receives funding from the province and the city of ottawa and relies heavily both on volunteers who deliver the meals and on fundraising, st. cyr said. it has received a small funding increase from the city, but is losing a covid-related subsidy that took about three dollars off the cost of each meal, he said. as a result, the cost of meals is going from $4.60, in most cases, to $8.05, which many people tell him is too much. st. cyr has heard from numerous clients who say they cannot afford the increase.
advertisement
“it just breaks my heart that we are now in this situation,” st. cyr said. “to me, it feels like we are abandoning our frailest low-income seniors and it doesn’t make economic sense from a policy perspective. so little money to our type of programs goes such a long way to helping people stay at home.”
john froom, left, receiving a meals on wheels delivery from volunteer co-ordinator kelly wheeler.
meals on wheels (ottawa)
/
handout
st. cyr noted that the program, which delivers between 110,000 and 120,000 meals a year, also serves as a wellness check for clients who are increasingly frail and as daily contact for some who don’t get out. in the past three months, meals on wheels volunteers have initiated six or seven wellness checks by police when they were unable to reach clients. in three of those cases, the person was found dead, he said. “this is a very frail clientele.”
so many of them live close to the margins that they will be forced to use food banks to supplement their meals, he said. “what people tend to turn to when they can’t afford the meals from us is the food bank. that is how precarious the situation is.”
marie springall, 73, is among those who are cancelling meals on wheels service because of price increases. she has parkinson’s and relies on a walker, making it difficult to cook for herself.
“it becomes a tea and toast thing,” she said. “especially during the winter, (meals on wheels) makes it easier to live. it is a sad state of affairs.”
advertisement
municipal and provincial politicians have raised concerns about the situation.
“i am absolutely sickened by this news,” bay ward coun. theresa kavanagh tweeted when olde forge announced cuts. “cutting community support services is a mental and physical lifeline fo many older adults in our community and actually saves the health care (system) money by keeping them healthier longer.”
ottawa west nepean ndp mpp chandra pasma raised the issue in question period. “many people across the city will be deeply impacted by these cuts.” she asked the health ministry to find the $7 million needed to keep the programs operating without cuts, something she said amounted to “less than a rounding error” in the ministry’s budget.
although there was accelerated funding for home and community care in the recent ontario budget, there was no funding increase for community support programs that provide ongoing services. taylor of olde forge said the sector had received only one 3.5-per-cent increase in the past 11 years — a period in which inflation was 27.5 per cent.
there was guarded optimism late in the week that the province might come through with a funding increase.
taylor said a provincial association representing community support organizations cancelled a news conference friday after receiving a verbal commitment from the provincial government that funding was coming to the sector, but there has been no further information. st. cyr said organizations like his had been forced to make tough decisions because, despite months of lobbying and letting the province know what they were facing, they had no response in time to determine this year’s budgets. a verbal commitment, he said, is not good enough.
advertisement
share story
