Welcome to ottawacaregiver.com, the site where caregivers can find useful and practical information on long-term care, nursing homes and in-home care.

The site is home to the 2023 revised edition of There’s No Place Like Home, a publication aimed at supporting caregivers with loved ones in long-term care facilities.

Thank you for your interest in our information.

There's No Place Like Home book cover, Lise Cloutier-Steele

By Lise Cloutier-Steele

THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE HOME

Revised Edition

A guide to help caregivers manage
the long-term care experience

In the 2023 revised edition of There’s No Place Like Home, Lise Cloutier-Steele writes about the conditions in care facilities. She shares her experience as her late father’s guardian and advocate while he resided in a long-term care facility for a period of over three years. The book moves from personal stories to practical and helpful information for caregivers with a loved one in care.

PRESS RELEASE / November 16, 2023

The print edition of There’s No Place Like HOME: A guide to help caregivers manage the long-term care experience is NOW AVAILABLE from www.ottawacaregiver.com.

Ottawa – On November 15, the Ottawa Citizen reported that there had been 7,157 confirmed COVID-19 cases among residents and staff of long-term care facilities since late August. Of those, 181 residents were hospitalized and 106 died. As of November 14, there were 105 ongoing outbreaks in long-term care homes across Ontario.   

Early in the pandemic, long-term care residents accounted for more than 60 percent of COVID-19 deaths in Ontario, and although death rates have dropped significantly since then, many unresolved issues point to the province’s ongoing failure to protect residents of long-term care institutions. These issues include room crowding, poor air circulation, lack of infection control procedures and training, and the many risks associated with the transmission of disease, often caused by staff working at more than one care facility.

More than ever, caregivers need to arm themselves with all the information they can gather about the long-term care experience, and There’s No Place Like Home by Lise Cloutier-Steele can help them get it right for themselves and their loved ones.

In her book, Lise writes about the conditions in care facilities, and her experience and lessons learned as her late father’s guardian and advocate while he resided in a long-term care home for a period of over three years. It’s a reality check combined with practical advice to help caregivers navigate health care systems and maintain healthy family relationships that are often tested to the limit if all are not prepared for the challenges associated with long-term care.

The book includes a chapter to guide caregivers on their search for a good care home, complete with lists of important questions to ask before agreeing to admit a loved one to a facility. Another chapter discusses the impact of COVID on the long-term care sector, and what our governments are doing, or not doing, about it. The chapters on where to go to complain, and what to expect from authorities responsible for the oversight of long-term care facilities, are equally helpful as they suggest ways to work around health care systems that are sometimes too rigid to allow for common sense and compassion. Lastly, the book includes information on changes that can be made at home to enable aging in place, which is what most seniors would prefer over a nursing home where the provision of adequate basic care is not guaranteed.

Caregivers looking for practical advice on how to manage the long-term care experience can benefit greatly from this guide.

All proceeds from book sales will be used to buy quilts for residents in care without family or friends.

There’s No Place Like Home: A guide to help caregivers manage the long-term care experience
2023 Revised Edition
Lise Cloutier-Steele
ISBN 978-0-9865479-2-8 (print edition)
ISBN 978-0-9865479-1-1 (e-book)

Meet the Author

Lise Cloutier-Steele

Lise Cloutier-Steele is the author of Living and Learning with a Child who Stutters, and the recipient of a Canada 125 Award in recognition of a significant contribution to the community and to Canada for her volunteer efforts to help children who stutter and their parents.
She is also the author of the Canadian and U.S. editions of Misinformed Consent – Women’s Stories about Unnecessary Hysterectomy. In September 2004 and 2005, she appeared on the CBC’s The Nature of Things with David Suzuki. The CBC documentary film was based on Misinformed Consent and featured interviews with the medical experts who supported the book project.

lise@ottawacaregiver.com

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“Everyone must keep in mind that someday we, ourselves, and/or our spouses may require care, even at the level of Lise’s father. I do hope, like the couple featured on the cover, that in my most senior years I will be able to get out for a walk in natural areas. The likelihood of continued quality of life will be greatly increased if appropriate care is available to me, if required. With sound planning and management, there is no reason why we cannot have affordable, adequate care for all of our elderly citizens. Good care is actually less expensive, at least in the long run, because it prevents expensive crises. Also, good care early enough can help prevent the need for more expensive care later.”

Bruce F. Simpson, senior partner, Barnes, Sammon LLP, Ottawa, Ontario

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