A different side of the Healthy Home Tax Credit

I need to voice a little concern that I have regarding the new Healthy Home Tax Credit, which was recently brought to light by Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty.

To some extent, I am happy that seniors will receive a tax credit for adding "independent living" aides to their homes. I think this is a good strategy to foster continued independent living for many seniors, and it may help them more easily manage their fixed income budgets.

Dalton McGuinty, and the press, seem to be focusing on the issue that this tax credit will create many new jobs. Creating jobs is something that is much needed in today's economy, but it creates the concern in me which I mentioned earlier.

Back in 2007, I created Take It Easy Personal Concierge, a concierge company based in Toronto. I set out to help bring time back to those who needed it, not really knowing, in those early days, who my target audience would be. After being in business for only a couple of months, my phone started ringing with requests from seniors. Hence, the senior division of my concierge service was born. My parents run a private early learning school in Toronto and I have grown up hearing stories about the myriad of regulations that they need to meet during their annual licensing inspections. I thought for sure that if my parents' school was bound by a thick book of regulations to help children, then I would need to follow a thousand rules to help seniors. I started researching and was shocked when I realized that I didn't need anything. To this day there are no regulations in place for private senior care companies.

With the demand increasing for "independent living" aides in senior homes, due to this new tax credit, will our seniors' be put more at risk? How do we know who is going into our seniors' homes to install these products? Are there any standards for these products? What questions should we ask when choosing a company of this kind? Where do we go if we have questions about specific companies? Is it solely up to the families/caregivers to protect their beloved seniors, or will the government step in?

I find myself thinking of those news stories you hear occasionally about seniors who have been taken advantage of by service providers. If there is going to be a new wave of independent living aide service providers, then I am sure we need to set some sort of standards for protection.

My 95-year-old grandmother currently lives in a long-term care facility, but if she was living alone and thinking of installing some items to help her remain in her home, I would be quite concerned about the people coming in to help.

Frequently, I get a phone call from somebody looking for information about starting a new senior care company. They only have questions about price. What should they charge? This worries me. Are these people only going into the business to make money? What about their desire to help seniors live a more independent life?

I presently sit on the board of the Ontario Personal Support Workers Association (www.opswa.com) as their Community Initiative leader. I strive daily to shed some light on the scariness that our beloved seniors are not being adequately protected. As a senior company I constantly am working to better standards throughout the industry. Will it make my job harder? my business more difficult to operate? Sure, but that's life when you're in business.

If you are as passionate about bringing some sort of regulations into place to protect our vulnerable seniors, please sign my petition.