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HELPING
PEOPLE LIVE INDEPENDENT LIVES, LONGER
Community Support Services (CSS)
- also referred to as Homecare or Home Health Care and Community Care
- is key to ensuring the sustainability of Canada's health-care system
according to independent reports from both the Kirby Committee and Romanow
Commission. Indeed, Romanow called this group of services "the next
essential service."
What
are Community support services?
Community
support services encompass medical, nursing, home and personal support,
and social services, including assistance with the essential activities
of daily life, such as dressing, bathing and personal care, as well as
grocery shopping, meal preparation and laundry. The programs and services
help people to live independently regardless of disability, illness or
limitation.
Find
out more about community support services and how they benefit society
as a whole.
Find
out more about community support services in Ottawa.
Higher
quality of life, lower health-care costs: it is estimated that providing
care in an institution is ten times more expensive than providing adequate
care for seniors and people with disabilities in their own homes
Today,
large numbers of older people and people with disabilities choose to live
independent, dignified lives in the comfort of their homes. For many,
community support services mean the difference between remaining safely
at home and moving into a residential or nursing home.
Adequate and effective community support services help people stay fit
and healthy longer, enabling them to continue to be active in the workforce
and the community, and decreasing dependence on social assistance. The
services also lessen the burden on the health-care system by reducing
admissions to hospitals and long-term nursing homes, and by decreasing
the length of hospital stays. Yet, funding for these services is woefully
inadequate, accounting for only four percent of public spending on health
in Canada.
A
complex funding structure: money for community support services comes
from many sources, but increasing reliance is being placed on fundraised
dollars
Community
support services are funded in part by the Ministry of Health, in part
by the City of Ottawa, and in part through local community fundraising.
The amount of money provided by the Ministry of Health, however, has not
increased in many years, leading to increasing demands on City budgets
and fundraised dollars. In addition, Ministry of Health funding supports
coordination only; direct costs such as meals and transportation must
be recovered from clients-many of whom have limited funds themselves.
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