So sorry about that. I did also have power of attorney, but it is so bad for seniors now. It depends on the Dr. you have, the specialists, and where you live. I did have to move my Dad to a different city, but he needed it bad. Almost lost all his many to scams, then so many things and it did take 2 years of hell to get him safe in a care home. I did also contact his social worker on a regular basis but it almost seems like a lottery or they wait for something bad to happen. These are bad times. I feel for you.
Long Term Care (nope, not the fun type)
- Thread starter MikeyLikey99
- Start date
I went through this with my mother a few years ago. It was in a different province so I can't really comment on the B.C. situation. We were able to find a private home that worked very well for her.
You will need to consider your parent's present condition as well as her future condition if they have some sort of degenerative health issues (Alzeimer's, Parkinson's etc) and does the Care home meet her current needs and will it meet her future needs. Some homes have different levels of care within the same facility. This can be a huge benefit, it is easier to move to a different floor than to a different home.
Look into the Disability Tax Credit if you haven't done so already. You might be able to reduce your income tax payable.
If your parent is consistently getting an income tax refund instead of owing tax you can apply to have any withholding tax on CPP, OAS and some work pensions removed. It's better to have that money put into your parent's bank account every month than having it deducted now and waiting for your tax refund next April.
You will need to consider your parent's present condition as well as her future condition if they have some sort of degenerative health issues (Alzeimer's, Parkinson's etc) and does the Care home meet her current needs and will it meet her future needs. Some homes have different levels of care within the same facility. This can be a huge benefit, it is easier to move to a different floor than to a different home.
Look into the Disability Tax Credit if you haven't done so already. You might be able to reduce your income tax payable.
If your parent is consistently getting an income tax refund instead of owing tax you can apply to have any withholding tax on CPP, OAS and some work pensions removed. It's better to have that money put into your parent's bank account every month than having it deducted now and waiting for your tax refund next April.
Assuming that the older person has lived in this country for a significant part of time then they have contributed to health care via the tax system. Both on the income tax side and the consumption tax side. So ya the province can pay for them in their later years.
I don’t have any advice to offer you. But I just wanted to chime in to say, I’m so sorry about your mom, Mikey. It’s so hard when our parents get old. Hugs and love to you
Thanks bud! You have some really great points there. As I’ve gotten into this, I’ve discovered that there is (1) independent living, (2) assisted living, and (3) long-term care. As you mentioned, some places have all three in the same complex, and some only offer one or two of them. We might have gotten away with assisted-living, but I could see that long-term care was needed fairly soon, so we didn’t want to have to force her to move after a year. That just didn’t seem fair to her, and it didn’t make a lot of sense. Mentally fine, but physically very weak is the situation. It seems like a lot of people in long-term care suffer some form of dementia, whether it’s mild or more advanced. Finding people for her to sit with at meal time and have an intelligent conversation with has been a challenge.
i’m in the process of having the disability tax credit form filled out. You have to have enough income so that you’re paying tax in order to use a tax credit, so it’s of limited use at the moment, but if you sell a bunch of shares with gains and end up with a big tax bill one year, that would be helpful.
i’m just taking everything over at this point so I will have to look into whether they are deducting tax or not on her income.
Thank you. Yeah, it sucks to see someone that was everything to you when you were little, decline so much. Someone, somewhere said you don’t truly become an adult until your parents are gone. But once you reach the point where you’re having to make all the decisions, and take care of them, and I think that’s definitely taking on the mantle.
They either go too soon, or they go painfully.
My grandma had dementia and it was the longest goodbye ever. At the end, she wasn’t my grandma anymore. I didn’t even cry because my heart had already broken quite a few times a few years before she passed. 💕💔
Regrettably in this province, to get gov’t assistance and not have to wait years and years, your mom/dad needs to be hospitalized and unable to return back home.
The brutal part is that it forces loving family members to refuse to take custody of their parent and claim they cannot care for them, nor can they live alone any longer. That seems to be the only (harsh) way to get the social worker/case manager to get them out of the hospital and into subsidized care in acreasonable time (months vs. years. You don’t get to pick where they go; they get placed in first available spot within the broad health district they fall into. Might get a transfer opportunity later on.
Aa soon as you take them home, the system washes their hands and it is now your problem and your cost, not theirs. They will do everything they can it seems to convince you to take your parent home. Just saying no is really really hard.
Brutally tough to put families through all that. I know, I have suffered through it twice. In the end, the placements worked out ok, but still feeling traumatized by the whole shit show.
If you go private and pony up the big $$$, totally different story with lots of “shopping options”.
Very best wishes for you and your mom. It’s hard, and takes some serious metal to get through all the entrenched bs that the system throws at seniors needing care placements. The whole process seems to lack compasion, fairness, and common sense. It is what it is though, and good for you for reaching out for input.
Blessings.
The brutal part is that it forces loving family members to refuse to take custody of their parent and claim they cannot care for them, nor can they live alone any longer. That seems to be the only (harsh) way to get the social worker/case manager to get them out of the hospital and into subsidized care in acreasonable time (months vs. years. You don’t get to pick where they go; they get placed in first available spot within the broad health district they fall into. Might get a transfer opportunity later on.
Aa soon as you take them home, the system washes their hands and it is now your problem and your cost, not theirs. They will do everything they can it seems to convince you to take your parent home. Just saying no is really really hard.
Brutally tough to put families through all that. I know, I have suffered through it twice. In the end, the placements worked out ok, but still feeling traumatized by the whole shit show.
If you go private and pony up the big $$$, totally different story with lots of “shopping options”.
Very best wishes for you and your mom. It’s hard, and takes some serious metal to get through all the entrenched bs that the system throws at seniors needing care placements. The whole process seems to lack compasion, fairness, and common sense. It is what it is though, and good for you for reaching out for input.
Blessings.
