A letter to Mrs. Priddy, Mrs. Charlton, and Jack: Peoplecare

This was written after reading this release:

NDP motion to include free drugs and dental for those 65 and over

Dear Mrs Priddy, Mrs. Charlton, and Jack

I'm writing in response to the recent move to afford free dental-care to seniors. Bravo. I think Jack had expressed it quite well in the elections that with ailing and struggling seniors, the whole society feels the repercussions. I'm young, however I hope dearly that my parents will not face their senior years with worry, or disparity. It is said that one of humankind's major developments was called "the grandparent revolution". This leap forward occurred thousands of years ago, and allowed two things: parents to establish a fixed domain, so they could explore and gather while the grandparents cared for the children. It also inaugurated an era of culture with the grandparents now able to teach and influence their young.

We've since changed for the worse. Our grandparents are overworked, unhealthy, and burdened with obligations of providing for their children who have increasingly fewer choices and fewer opportunities. This 'grandparent revolution' you see was only possible with the well-being and security of seniors established by the 'parents'. While 'our future' is often used for discussing youth and children, I think we must take important steps to ensure 'our futures' are secure by means of helping our seniors. Healthy seniors means healthy children.

I would like to express my concern for two specific things.

Firstly, we need to begin to think holistically about our seniors. Today, ailments for seniors are not only being ignored, they aren't being prevented. Good health, and a respected natural world are two very important steps to ensuring that people of all ages aren't ill, and increases the likelihood that they will make it to be "healthy seniors". While free prescriptions are a necessity, now is the time to work with our policies so that they butt-end together as they should; perhaps we won't need as many prescriptions. We could avoid the incredible costs of prescriptions, by encouraging education and awareness of "life long health". Although covering their necessities and establishing their rights is a vital first step, the objective is to have seniors healthy, and available to participate in our communities.

Secondly, we must move foward on the idea of "dentalcare". My mother has always been adamant about dental hygiene, and always quick to relate teeth problems to health issues. Recently, I've had $1600 worth of dental work, which was mainly new fillings, and replacing old ones. It was covered because of my parents plan, but I'm now loosing that coverage as I'm becoming "financially independent" (what a way to welcome me to adulthood, eh?). Already I'm finding it's simply not affordable for me to have fillings, let alone getting the proper ones (i.e. gold, not composite). I can't imagine what it must be like for someone who also has weak teeth, but has not had lessons in toothbrushing or has not been able to visit the dentist. While dentalcare for seniors is a great idea, we can save on dentalcare for seniors if we had dentalcare (period).

Though I realize that these ideas are much broader than the capacity of the NDP caucus at the moment; I'm sure you have to keep things prioritized with a relatively modest caucus, but I wanted to voice the idea that dentalcare and seniorcare can be achieved in large part through "peoplecare".

+Ravi