On October 2, 2011, The Change Foundation's CEO Cathy Fooks shared with CBC radio listeners her own challenging health care experience coordinating home-care services for her elderly parents.
Her more than 20 years of experience working in health policy were tapped by CBC Metro Morning radio reporter, Mary Wiens, as part of the Indignity of Aging series. Cathy's personal story illuminated common coordination and communication challenges faced by many Ontarians accessing home and community services and underscored Wiens' characterization of the current state of home care as "impenetrable."
Drawing on the Foundation's work, Cathy also emphasized the underlying need to better integrate home care with primary care and other parts of the health care continuum to build a real system for patients and their families to improve both care and experience.
The Indignity of Aging series explores ways to improve home and community care for Ontario patients, caregivers and providers.
Hear Cathy's Metro Morning interview here (Part 5).
To learn more on the topic, read the following Change Foundation analysis based on primary research: