Nova Scotia’s population is aging; our care facilities are full; and the workers who provide such important care are at their limit.

Nova Scotia is home to one of the fastest ageing populations in the country, with nearly ¼ of Nova Scotians estimated to be over the age of 65. These elders, our parents, grandparents, our friends and family, will need care soon, if they don’t already, but senior care facilities in the province can’t keep up.

The Houston government keeps promising they’ll fix it, that they’ll build more beds, open shiny new facilities, but that won’t fix the real problem: poor pay and understaffing. More beds and new facilities mean nothing if there’s no one to provide the necessary care.

Who is supposed to work in these facilities when senior care workers are leaving the sector in droves?

In the last ten months alone, 5.8% of all senior care workers have left the sector, making the already low staffing levels even worse.

Currently, barely half of the senior care facilities in the province offer the minimum recommended 4.1 hours of care per patient per day, not because they don’t want to but because they can’t.

Workers are forced to prioritize and make sacrifices to ensure everyone gets what they need to survive. That’s not the care they want to provide; that’s not the care we want our elders to receive.

Help us stand for senior care workers in their demand for better wages and improved recruitment and retention—because the people who make our family members feel at home when they can’t be deserve it.