Question:
Our mother is 84 years old, and was diagnosed as suffering fromAlzheimers about four years ago. We had to move her to a nursing homeon an urgent basis; nursing homes in Ontario (Canada) are regulated bythe provincial government.

Some of our mother's friends have agitated to have her move to a newfacility run by a US company called Sunrise. It is classified as anassited living facility and is not regulated by the government - it setsits own performance standards. In point of fact there is nothing tostop them from asking our mother to leave if she becomes a problempatient; this can't happen in a nursing home in Ontario.

Has anyone had any experience with Sunrise in Ontario? We have askedabout the educational and professional qualifications of the staff, andthe answer we received was that the staff really like working with theelderly and are interviewed extensively to make sure they really do likethe work.

Any comments on this????

Answer: Sunrise have a facility in Windsor Ontario. It is on Riverside Driveoverlooking the Detroit River, a point that was well emphasized. My wife andI have visited the place, and these are my impressions. Relative to Canadian costs Sunrise is very expensive. A Semi privateroom will cost $118 can, per day. The place has the atmosphere of a fivestar hotel when you first walk in. They have made every effort to avoidcoming within the scope of the Community Care Access system simply becausethey do not want to be within the regulatory minimum requirements that itwould entail. They even call their AZ unit their Reminiscence unit. They arehaving a lot of difficulty selling this type of care in this area, for thesimple reason that people are not looking for the bells, whistles, and glitsthat they appear to be trying to market to justify the high costs. They havetaken out half page ads in the Windsor Star newspaper, and their AZ unit had11 people in it when we visited with a capacity for 22, 8 months after firstopening. A private room would run about $150 to $180 can, a day. If theywant to avoid coming under the existing system which is patient orientatedthen one might well ask why. The answer is that they are profit orientatednot patient orientated. The day we visited, the Marketing Director wasaccompanied on her trip by another younger woman in a female business suit.It was quite a performance and involved recitations by a couple of workersas to why they liked working at Sunrise. When the opportunity came up Iasked what her interest was. It appeared she was a part of an AmericanCompany that specialized in purchasing seniors homes and the unsaid thingwas that she was obviously doing a study to see if this was a suitableinvestment. They would purchase it and then lease it back to the operatingcompany. So now we have a situation where the investment has to support twoorganizations who are looking for a return on their investment. The highprice is probably related to that. On the other hand they may be endeavoringto mop up the section of the market that doesn't find price to be too muchof a consideration. My own feeling is that once you get outside of thecontrols that exist in Ontario, then you will have to consider verycarefully what might be sacrificed in the name of maximizing profit. Forexample, the use of Registered Practical Nurses in place of RegisteredNurses.

I have visited several nursing homes in SE Ontario, and my impression isthat the privately owned ones while meeting the minimum standards requiredby the Department of Health, try to cut the cost to a minimum by reducingthe quality of the services in areas not so controlled, use of qualifiedpeople and space etc. In some cases, tokenism instead of for real.