When Laura Tamblyn Watts’ senior mother fell and broke her arm, her mom was able to spend thousands on physiotherapy because she was covered under her teacher’s pension and the Ontario Health Insurance Plan, which funds physiotherapy for seniors in the province.
After taking a short break from her physiotherapy sessions, her mom returned to find that her recovery had seriously regressed.
“They said you're gonna need to do [physiotherapy] for the rest of their life,” says Tamblyn Watts, chief executive officer of CanAge, a national seniors advocacy organization. “My mother is lucky because she lives in Ontario. But many people in her situation in different parts of the country would have different coverage experiences.”
As a burgeoning portion of Canada’s population become seniors, it will be increasingly important for them to access physiotherapy, experts say, both to maintain their own well-being and reduce demands on an overburdened health care system. But for the physiotherapy profession to play this role, barriers to access must be addressed.
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