Disabled Alberta seniors can't survive many more years under a government that refuses to help fund non-profit care centres, an advocacy group for the disabled said yesterday.
"We're turning over between 40% and 65% at care facilities every year because we don't have the money to pay them," said Wally Mulder, spokesman for the Alberta Council of Disability Services.
"An employee in this economy isn't going to keep a $15 per hour job when they can leave the sector and make twice that."
His group released a report yesterday that says government must increase funding for community services by at least $182 million, lest the doors of Alberta's disabled care centres start closing.
The province currently has about 300 such senior centres."We're at the breaking point. If we don't get this money, these facilities will have to close their doors. They simply don't have the staff to provide the service they've been contracted to give," Mulder said.
The ACDS report compared salaries in the disabled services sector to jobs in other sectors requiring similar levels of training, critical thinking and responsibility.
Results showed disabled service staffers average between $14 and $18 per hour, compared to hourly ranges of $21 to $30 in other sectors.
"We just can't compete. We're burning out our people and losing staff who have eight years of experience in this field," Mulder said.
The funding crisis is also causing enrolment numbers to drop in college rehabilitation programs, such as MacEwan, Grande Prairie, Red Deer and Lethbridge, Mulder said.
"No one will go into a program if the job it gets them pays poorly.
"We're challenging government to step up. If they don't, more than 25% of care centres for seniors will eventually be forced to close."
ACDS estimates 9,000 disabled Alberta seniors currently receive care at non-profit facilities, which employ about 14,000 people.Source: Edmonton Sun, Canada
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