Am I in the right queue?

This Forum Collection publication contains the integral text of a keynote address given by Dr. Dorothy Pringle at the 26th Annual Meeting of the Canadian Association on Gerontology (CAG) held in Calgary in October, 1997. The theme of the Meeting was Aging: Dreams and Realities and Dr. Pringle had been asked to speak to the realities of seniors with respect to the health care system. She chose to narrow her subject down to the issue of waiting, a chronic situation faced by many as a consequence of health care reforms but particularly by seniors, who are considered, it seems, the epitomy of patience.

"While I don't mean to imply that waiting is all there is to the health care system when one is old, it seems to me that waiting plays a significant role in older people's experience." Dr. Pringle addresses the topic in three areas: Waiting for restorative surgery; Waiting for a long term care bed; and Waiting for assistance. While the health system can be vastly improved in the first two areas, the third requires that we reflect on and redefine our priorities.

The subject and tenor of Dorothy Pringle's address on the waiting conditions that seniors face within the health care system deeply concern the National Advisory Council on Aging (NACA). With this publication, the Council hopes to stimulate debate and reflection on the need to pay special attention, in designing or reforming the health care system, to the particular needs of Canadian seniors.

Dr. Pringle is Dean of the Faculty of Nursing at the University of Toronto. She is a registered nurse with a vast clinical and teaching experience. Her clinical and research interests are in the care of the disabled and impaired older people and in the assistance required by family caregivers of older people. She also studies the effect on health of perceived control on the part of patients and family caregivers and has developed a scale to measure the impact of respite services on family caregivers.

To obtain your free copy of "Aging and The Health Care System", it is now available in several formats:

on the internet in HTML format
on the internet in PDF format (85Kb - 34 pages)
If you need assistance, here is a help page for your convenience.
upon request on computer diskettes / large print / audio-cassete / braille

National Advisory Council on Aging
Jeanne Mance Building
Address Locator : 1908 A1
Ottawa (Ontario)
K1A 1B4
Tel: (613) 957-1968
Fax: (613) 957-9938
E-mail: info@naca-ccnta.ca
Internet: www.naca-ccnta.ca

The Forum Collection is an information series designed to create public awareness and promote discussion on issues of interest to seniors.

The Division of Aging and Seniors, Public Health Agency of Canada, provides operational support to the National Advisory Council on Aging.