By Doreen Marion Gee

When the sun sets on our lives, we all want our last days to be happy and peaceful. We need to "shuffle off this mortal coil" with our dignity intact. It is crucial that our seniors in care homes receive the very best of medical care, in a healthy environment with compassionate treatment. This is a priority for the South Island Health Coalition (SIHC) which believe in a universal health care system that provides optimal care for all our citizens, young and old. Co - Chaired by Carol Pickup and Phil Lyons, the SIHC is opposed to the privatization of health delivery. They employ proactive measures to bring awareness to health issues. With the support of various other activist groups, they held a "Citizens' Forum on Public Accountability for Residential Care and Seniors' Health Issues" on March 29, 2008 in Victoria. The forum dealt with the profound responsibility in the hands of those who govern our Residential Care system and how they need to be accountable to the public and to the senior residents they serve.

The forum included a distinguished panel who made presentations: Jennifer Whiteside - a researcher with the Hospital Employees Union; Jinx Barber - Co Chair of the Mount Saint Mary Family Council; Max Halber - President of Greater Victoria Seniors; and Sharon Miller - a Registered Nurse at Sandringham Hospital. Afterwards, the audience was encouraged to ask questions of the panel or make comments. An invitation to be on the panel was extended to Mr. Jac Kreut, Chair of the Board for VIHA. And the Honourable George Abbott, Minister of Health, was invited to attend the forum. However, they both declined to attend. Local politicians who attended were Rob Fleming (NDP MLA) and Denise Savoie (NDP MP) and Chris Coleman, City Hall liaison with James Bay. The large turnout of about a hundred people made for lots of lively 'grey power'.

The forum was informative and interesting. Henry McCandless of the SIHC, spoke about the importance of public accountability. He says this involves government agencies telling us what they intend to do before they do it. A document from the forum states, "The obligation of authorities to explain things is a simple and powerful force for fairness in society." We heard about the pet project of Dale Perkins of the SIHC - a survey of all the residential care homes in Victoria to gather information about all aspects of life in these facilities. To highlight significant points made by the panel and audience members: An eloquent audience member said that "whistleblowers" within the system should be given protection so that their jobs were not jeopardized if they spoke about accountability. Panelists said that more accountability is needed in a system where downsized healthcare staff are so overworked that they do not have enough time to properly care for the residents. The observation was made that the daily hours of care per resident in B.C. was the lowest in Canada. Many people questioned the logic of the new "one - size - fits - all" model for healthcare in residential care homes. Savoie talked about the federal role. "Never have there been so much talk about accountability and so little accountability in Ottawa" she said. Some speakers lamented that the public has lost control over our health services.

According to Carol Pickup "The heart of the forum is that we believe that the government has not been held to account for services that they are not providing." She says we need a "Senior's Advocate" who would report to the legislature but be completely independent of government. The elderly residents of care homes are some of the most vulnerable people in society. They have a right to expect the very best from a fully accountable health care system when they hear "the rain and wind beat dark December" (Shakespeare).