The latest poll showed that 73 percent of families disliked a government plan to transfer senior citizens with moderate cognitive decline to daycare centers from community-based ones, the Taiwan Alzheimer’s Disease Association (TADA) said yesterday.
The most frequently cited reasons for the reluctance were concerns over their ability to provide the residents with the activities they wanted, long commutes and cost, said association chairman Hsu Wen-chuin (徐文俊).
The survey had 861 valid written responses across 21 counties and special municipalities, he said.
Photo courtesy of Taiwan Alzheimer’S Disease Association
The Ministry of Health and Welfare has previously proposed to remove senior citizens who score two or higher on the Clinical Dementia Rating scale or are deemed to have category four to category eight long-term needs from community-based solutions.
Although the intention is to send elderly with significant cognitive decline to centers qualified to help them, Hsu said 39 percent of families would rather forfeit their long-term care subsidies than send their loved ones away.
The ministry’s plans would increase economic hardship on families, as community-based centers cost NT$6,000 to NT$11,200 per month, which might be unaffordable for some who are already paying for a caregiver, he said.
The strain on the families would likely reduce the quality of life for elderly people and worsen their cognitive decline, Hsu said.
He urged the ministry to address issues such as insufficient resources and coordination between types of long-term care service providers and said that the government should relax the standards for families to use community-based solutions, increase care options and avoid making constant policy changes.
Department of Long-Term Care deputy director-general Wu Hsi-wen (吳希文) said the nation’s 500 community-based care centers cannot help 35,000 Taiwanese diagnosed with age-related cognitive decline.
People with moderate or severe cognitive decline are best cared for at certified daycare centers that are better equipped and trained than strained centers, she said.
Local governments have been advised to ensure that day centers provide necessary treatments to delay or prevent decline and that they do not refuse service to elderly people who can no longer care for themselves, Wu said.
The ministry is to provide additional funding to centers that have elderly residents with behavioral problems related to decreased ability to self-regulate, she added.
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