Senate Report
The Eightieth Meeting of Senate was held at the Toronto Eaton Centre Marriott and all 48 Districts of RTO/ERO had at least one representative. Paul Brown, Dennis Hill and Cathy Telfer attended to vote on such issues as membership, grants to Districts and moving to one Senate per year. (This motion was lost due to the amount of business that is conducted at each Senate resulting in a need for full discussion and timely decisions.)
There were numerous reports from the Provincial Executive and Committees who work hard on our behalf throughout the year.
One of the highlights of this year’s Spring Senate was the keynote speaker. The Honourable Minister Sophia Aggelonitis, Minister Responsible for Seniors, spoke of the New Retirement Homes Act which passed legislation and is now being enforced. She outlinedsome of the initial steps being taken such as ensuring that the Registrar of Homes has the ability to call in an inspector, also, extending the hours of the support line for those in a retirement home. This Seniors’ portfolio is touched by many ministries - revenue, health, housing, etc and involves work with multi-cultural communities to develop diversity action plans. Ms Aggelonitis told the members that the greatest elder abuse is neglect. She is an excellent speaker and very passionate about her goal of making Ontario more age friendly.
We also heard some interesting information regarding health care while travelling out-of-province which included:
some countries require proof of medical coverage so if you are travelling abroad, call Johnson Inc. and get a letter to take with you
leave a copy of your medical information with someone at home and take their contact information with you in case you can't communicate
call Johnson Inc. to see if inoculations are required by the country to which you are travelling
there will be a cashless medical process if you call Mondial within 48 hours of an emergency
do not pay any medical bills if sent by a collection or credit agency; call Mondial for assistance.