Thanks for continueing an important story, Marco and the Tyee. Nononense makes a good point - the mainstream media has failed to address or investigate the thrusting of privatization on health care and the subsequent detrimental effects to seniors especially in the assisted living sector.That is why it is so important that we advocate on behalf of so many seniors who can no longer speak for themselves as well as support those whose voices are being silenced because they are telling a story that the government does not want you to hear.

I wonder how many of our tax dollars it took to find Maximus (i looked it up on the stock market (symbol mms.n) and its Industry: Other Services. Accenture, the consulting company the Campbell gang uses and is under some scrutiny in the U.S . is based in Bermuda so does not pay any income tax to Canada or the U.S. and therefore is not accountable and doesn't have to open the books for inspection. Its industry on the stock market (symbol acn-n) is also listed as "other services". Accenture has been harshly critized by Lou Dobbs on CNN for avoiding taxes and enabling, encouraging and driving American jobs overseas to cheap labor markets by advising companies everywhere to do it. This company also had something to do with or was an offshoot of Andersen Accounting of the Enron downfall and scandal.

This is exactly the truth about private for-profit health care. The whole government push to force a 15 per cent wage cut on the HEU wasn't to "put more money into patient care" as the BC Liars claimed. (If it was for this, then the best thing to do would be to let the HEU keep its wage rates and keep people interested and productive). Rather, it is to line the pockets of private for-profit contractors in the system, where services and facilities have already been contracted out. This is the same reason why the Liar regime has been closing down facilities, laying off care givers, de-listing key medical services and raising MSP premiums: to cover the huge inefficient cost of profit. despite actually increasing the public health budget, the government has been forced to grossly cut back health care because most of this money is now going to pay for greedy inefficient private sector contractors and corporations.

I have been in the Health Care Field for the past 23 years, helping Seniors with their care in all areas of daily living. I was laid off last year, 2003, the facility was closed and 205 Residents were sent to where ever there was a spot open. I am now employed in another facility which is planning to close soon. Another 150 Residents to go where ever! This kind of treatment of our Elderly is outrageous. What happened to providing a "home" environment for them. What happened to "quality of care"? Treating people with dignity and respect! It has come to the point where the leaders of our society are more interested in MONEY and POWER than they are in PEOPLE. When health care became a BUSINESS, quality care became quantity care and Residents became numbers. I have seen what privatization does, example, housekeeping, our facility is now dirty, smelly, and unsafe. We, the nursing staff, complain but nothing improves. It is difficult to keep experienced care aides now that our wages have been cut. It has caused much more stress, sick time and injuries. I don't understand why our leaders can't see the need for trained, experienced & caring staff? I have sent many emails to different people, MLA's, CEO's of health authorities to come and observe how I take care of our elderly but of course have yet to receive a response. Respectfully Claire Rollins email:

Claire, I share your sense of urgency about the ruthless treatment of seniors. No one seems to be listening and the media is largely ignoring it. Growing old in our culture is not a sexy issue and most people are in denial about it - if these were children being uprooted in such a manner, imagine the uproar. Well, our parents and grandparents were once children and now at the end of their lives their human rights and civil liberties are being seriously abused.

The dismantling of these residences has been a sham, more than that, a con. The senior home in our town had passed inspection but just like our own homes,it perhaps could have used a few minor renovations, the emphasis being on minor. There were no letters of complaints from residents, families or staff. In all the meetings I attended there was only great affection expressed for the residence. So why change what was working so effectively? Well, along with the promotion of assisted living those minor repairs in senior homes throughout B.C. had to be magnified and stressed, otherwise the privatization agenda of this government could not have gone forward. It was a manufactured crisis created by government. These buildings had to be closed and the sooner the better.There was no consultation or consideration of the "people's agenda."

Just for the record, I'd like to describe the senior residence in my hometown. The one that wasn't quite good enough for the Campbell government.This is a working class town, the residence was never expensive. It has always been a big part of our community. Here's the description: It's on a hill with views of the ocean and the ferries crossing the strait.It is surrounded by green lawns and towering Douglas firs.Flowers and rhododendrons abound. There are small cottages for more independent living. The main building has a center courtyard with a fountain, a small bridge,and a gazebo. Many days I have found my father who has dementia playing horseshoes or having a barbecue with the other residents there. The dining room has padded comfortable armchairs for sitting, sometimes flowers on the tables.On the way to the gathering room, there is a small shop where you can buy candy, knitted slippers etc. The living room has a large fireplace, big screen tv ,piano, and an aquarium.There's a room for crafts and bingo with great views of the ocean. Outside there's a large sundeck.The hallways are filled with heritage photographs of our town. There is even a library filled with books. The residents rooms are immaculate. They have their own washroom and it is wheelchair accessible.The housekeeping staff won the top honors in B.C. last year for their excellent work and were rewarded by being privatized and their wages cut. Some left, the ones that stayed now seem demoralized and fatigued. (Food services were also privatized, all to multi-nationals). Volunteers take the seniors out for chinese food, local events etc. School choirs and musicians often come to entertain. There are volunteers who bring their dogs to visit. There is even a resident cat. Surprised at the description? I think there are a lot of senior homes that are similar and are either being closed or just like this one are being dismantled bit by bit into privatization. Apparently, they are just not good enough.

Here's the BCliberal idea of what is better and here's how they started the process in our town: Using money that they had cut from our hospital budget (which caused loss of acute care beds and some services), they set up a $350,000 fund to help private business start up assisted living. So any apartment owner in town that needed to fill empty suites sidled up to this salad bar of funding, added wheelchair ramps and some renovations and lo and behold an assisted living unit was born. Busy streets, no green space, narrow hallways. This is assisted living and "this is better" says the Campbell crew. "Dirty, smelly and unsafe" says Claire above.

Someone has been asleep in this province. This should not have been allowed to happen. There were many questions that should have been asked and were not.The silence is very 1939ish to me. In a civilized society you cannot remove people from their homes without good reason - can you?

Only by suing the bc liberals in a massive class action lawsuit will we put an end to such gross betrayals.

In a very short time you will find only the worst of the worst will be in so called care living .. the rest will be rifled off to assited living units or family, remember when campbell told us during his speeches we would be getting more involved in healthcare he wasn't kidding... i know of one old gentleman who has been moved 4 times since last winter with his family given 24hrs notice Public facilities will house low paid workers who will care for seniors with dementia of various levels, because the focus isn't on care and community it s on profit... health authorities budget in terms of " patient care stay days, and their ultimate goal is to decrease those numbers, more profit, more bonuses for ceo's those are called "performance" bonuses, and before you know it we find ourselves back 35 years or so when the province closed down these hell holes for seniors i know i worked in one for a short while it was awful do we really want to go there again? it was pretty bad in the old days. imagine you've survived ww2 only to fall under the care of the bc liberals .. shame on them and shame on the rest of us who don't speak up

Since over 50% of the canadian population is over 50 years old, it says most of us will be in the same boat if we dont do something about these inhumane ways our seniors are being treated. The one thing we all have is our vote. There is an election heading our way in 2005. 2/3 of the voters are over 50. (under 19 dont vote provincialy) Think about it!!!!!!!!!!!