A Mandate for Canada: Prioritizing Small House Care Homes

The COVID-19 pandemic awakened the nation – and the world – to the fact that small-house eldercare homes were substantially safer places to deliver long-term care compared with traditional nursing homes. And while it's now been almost five years since the onset of the pandemic, Canadian health policy makers such as Samir Sinha, MD, continue to raise awareness of the need for the proliferation of models such as Green House homes. As it happens, his appearance on this week's episode coincides with his new report, titled "There's No Place Like Home: Why Canada Must Prioritize Small Care Home Models in its Provision of Long-Term Care," published by his Toronto Metropolitan University's National Institute on Ageing, where he is director of health policy research. Susan Ryan sits down with Dr. Sinha to discuss his work, the new report, and why he wants Canada to prioritize small care home models in the future delivery of long-term care services. Dr. Sinha, who is also a geriatrician and clinician scientist at Sinai Health System and the University Health Network in Toronto, a professor of medicine at the University of Toronto, and a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, has lots to say about eldercare, his desire to help and to work with vulnerable populations.  Listen to the episode to find out why he believes importance of adequate staffing and the role of universal direct care and its relationship to better resident-centered care. Download the Toronto Metropolitan University's report on small-house models here: https://www.niageing.ca/small-care-homes