Neglected No More

The Urgent Need to Improve the Lives of Canada's Elders in the Wake of a Pandemic

De: André Picard

Narrado por: Miles Meili

A National Best Seller

Shortlisted for the Balsillie Prize for Public Policy

It took the coronavirus pandemic to open our eyes to the deplorable state of so many of the nation's long-term care homes: the inhumane conditions, overworked and underpaid staff, and lack of oversight. In this timely new book, esteemed health reporter André Picard reveals the full extent of the crisis in eldercare, and offers an urgently needed prescription to fix a broken system.

When COVID-19 spread through seniors' residences across Canada, the impact was horrific. Along with widespread illness and a devastating death toll, the situation exposed a decades-old crisis: the shocking systemic neglect towards our elders.

Called in to provide emergency care in some of the hardest-hit facilities in Ontario and Quebec, the military issued damning reports of what they encountered. And yet, the failings that were exposed - unappetizing meals, infrequent baths, overmedication, physical abuse and inadequate personal care - have persisted for years in these institutions.

In Neglected No More, André Picard takes a hard look at how we came to embrace mass institutionalization, and lays out what can and must be done to improve the state of care for our elders, a highly vulnerable population with complex needs and little ability to advocate for themselves.

Picard shows that the entire eldercare system - fragmented, underfunded and unsupported - is long overdue for a fundamental rethink. We need to find ways to ensure seniors can age gracefully in the community for longer, with supportive home care and respite for family caregivers, and ensure that long-term care homes are not warehouses of isolation and neglect. Our elders deserve nothing less.

©2021 Andre Picard (P)2021 Random House Canada

Reseñas de la Crítica

National best seller

Shortlisted for the 2021 Mavis Gallant Prize for Non-Fiction

Shortlisted for the 2021 Inaugural Balsillie Prize

“[E]veryone who may have elders to care for, and/or may end up as an elder in need of care themselves - which is to say, everyone - should read this book, and press our governments to heed Picard’s warnings and wise advice.” (Montreal Review of Books)

"[Picard] writes from the heart.... Neglected No More is a solid and timely work that ultimately prescribes how to end Canada’s neglect of the elderly." (Jury of the Quebec Writers’ Federation for the Mavis Gallant Prize for Nonfiction)

“Neglected No More is a powerful, well-researched, eloquently written book that dives deep into why and how Canada fails its elders.” (Forbes)

Time For Change

This book details the senior care dilemma in Canada, and other countries in comparison. Neglect, poor funding, and low paid under staffed facilities have been exposed.