Quebec anglophone seniors worried about healthcare access

A three-year study of Quebec's anglophone seniors shows that many feel that their ability to do the things they want to dois curtailed by language barriers and are especially concerned about access to health services.

The Quebec Community Groups Network says it commissioned the survey and report to make sure people who speak English don't fall through the cracks.

The group said itfound 68.5 per cent of seniors believe a language barriercurtails their ability to realize their full potential.

A lot of English-speaking seniors who came of age before Bill 101 didn't have the same opportunities to be educated in French [or] to go into the workforce in French, said Celine Cooper, a lead researcher in the study.

Cooper coordinated the massive province-wide project which surveyed more than 800 people over the age of 55.

The survey found one-third won't get service in English right away at the local hospital or health clinic.

"The medical system is the one that frightens me the most," Maxine Bloom, president ofthe Cummings Jewish Centre for Seniors toldSteve Rukavina on CBC Montreal's Homerun.

"Being 85 is not that easy all by itself. Having a language problem just makes it worse," she said.

Bloom said that although she has been able to get health services inEnglish so far, shewants to feel confident she will always be able to.

"It just takes one person who refuses to speak your language tomakeyou feel like a second-class citizen," she said.

In the Gasp, the Townships and around the Island of Montreal, the number of people who won't get service in English right away at the local hospital or health clinic is closer to 40 per cent.

I worry about the very frail seniorwho doesn't have family [or]doesn't have the income to buy services, so they're relying on neighbours or on community organizations, saidRuth Pelletier president of Seniors Action Quebec,an organization that represents 270,000 anglophones over the age of 55.

Pelletier saidthat although most institutions are doing their best given financial and staff restraints,language is still a barrier to health services.

But she saidit's clear that it's more difficultfor anglophone seniors to get adequate health carethan it is for their francophone counterparts.