Home care spending needed to save money

Only a few hundred children in the world have Congenital Hyperventalation Syndrome, and seven years ago, Jacob Banach became one of them.

The syndrome causes his brain to allow high levels of carbon dioxide to build up in his blood. Literally, Jacob stops breathing in his sleep because his brain forgets to.

The 11 year old from Sherwood Park needs to be monitored throughout the night to make sure he continues to breathe. At first, his parents tried to take on this task.

"After two years we were ready to divorce at least five times, because you don't get much sleep," said Greg, Jacob's father.

But soon they were introduced to home care. Jacob has an aide who monitors him all night, along with nurses who check on him.

Cheryl Smit, Jacob's case manager, knows that home care makes a huge difference in the Banach family's lives.

"If the service wasn't available, I don't believe this family would have been able to function. I'm not sure what would have happened," Smit told Global News.

Children like Jacob, seniors, terminally-ill people, and those with short-term illness can all benefit from home care services. Every year, five million hours of homecare is provided in Alberta, but the government only spends 5% of its health budget on home care.

Donna Wilson, a local health care policy expert, says that home care can actually save money.

"In Eastern Canada, they're putting a lot more money into home care, and it's so smart to do that, because then they're not in the emergency department, (and) they're not admitted to the hospital," says Wilson.

But the problem may be that not enough people are familiar with these services.

"I've been in home care, specifically in Alberta, for 20 years, and I still hear people aren't that familiar with home care or what we do," said Kim Fraser, assistant professor in the faculty of nursing.

For families like the Banach's, they are well aware of what home care can do - and that helps them sleep better at night.