Balancing care for supportive housing

On the surface, both the BoC Research Group and the supportive housing research team appeared to arrive at similar conclusions when looking at the issue of where better to provide care for seniors on the margins --those at risk of losing independence. [...] Many of the older people on the LTC wait list whom the expert panel in the Balance of Care project considered “divertible” from institutional care appeared to us to resemble those living in supportive housing. [...] After interviewing older people residing in supportive housing, we then interviewed the supportive housing mangers for each of the service providers to determine the costs of care packages for residents with varying levels of care needs. [...] He has a chair in the bath and a bar to help him…” 3.3 Difficulties with IADLs To maximize comparability, our study used the same questions as the BoC study to assess IADL needs in meal preparation, ordinary housework, managing medications and using the phone. [...] Despite requiring help and assistance in many IADLs, most of sample were supported by the flexibility of supportive housing living arrangements and were able to maintain well established routines that suited their lifestyles, preferences and needs; they tended to organize their days around the scheduling of care providers and any programs they might attend.