That might have been carrying an eye for public relations a bit far, but in other respects, the king鈥檚 death was entirely routine. Like the rest of the population in the 1930s, he died at home in his bed.
Indeed, for much of history, dying at home in the circle of one鈥檚 family was the near-universal experience. It鈥檚 only in recent times that things have changed.
Today, almost 70 per cent of us go to a hospital when the time comes. And we pay a price for that.
Even at their best, hospitals are sterile, impersonal places. Surveys show that a strong majority of 91原创s would prefer to spend their final days at home.
The reason more of us don鈥檛 is that health authorities have been shamefully slow in making home-based care available. And not just palliative care. The frail elderly who could live on in their homes if our health system reached out to them rarely are given that choice.
Despite several decades of promises and exhortations to the contrary, patient care in Canada remains physician-centred, hospital-centred and, above all, crisis-centred.
In emergencies, it does wonders. But in the homes and bedrooms of our aging population, it has been largely a silent partner.
Recently, however, there are signs that might be changing. With the help of a $50-million grant from the provincial health ministry, regional authorities are starting to build an alternative system of care.
Here on 91原创 Island, a number of pilot projects are underway. Hospital patients with non-life-threatening heart ailments are being sent home with automated cardiac monitors. The machines read blood pressure and pulse rates several times a day and transmit the data by telephone to a nursing station.
Some elderly patients have remote sensing devices fitted in their homes that call for help if signs of trouble are detected, like a front door left open. And there鈥檚 a programmable drug dispenser that sounds an alarm if they forget to take their medication.
There will also be an increased emphasis on home-centred nursing care and assisted-living arrangements. Pain management, in particular, is an important part of the picture. Studies show that inadequate pain control is one of the main reasons frail or dying patients are forced out of their homes.
Setting aside the human equation, there is also a financial justification for this new approach. Senior citizens age 65 and over represent 15 per cent of the 91原创 Island population, yet they account for 50 per cent of all hospital visits.
When home-based care was introduced in 91原创 last year, there was a 30 per cent drop in hospital visits among seniors receiving the new service. If those figures are replicated here, the savings might very well pay for the program.
We use the term 鈥渕ight鈥� advisedly. A long list of health-care innovations were supposed to cut costs and ended up adding to them.
And it will take more than a government offer of funding to bring about this new approach. In their hearts and minds, doctors prefer hospitals. They take comfort in having every available option at hand. It will require a major effort of persuasion to alter this mindset.
But one way or another, this is a change that must happen. The technology is in place. So is the funding. All that remains to be found is the will.
