Home Care For 100,000 More Ontarians, Improved Long-Term Care For Over 70,000 Seniors
OTTAWA, May 21 /CNW/ - Ontario's four-year Plan for Change will help more seniors stay in their own homes by delivering quality home care for an additional 100,000 Ontarians, said Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty.
"Our population is growing and it's aging. We owe it to Ontarians to ensure that home care is there for our seniors and sick - for all of us should we need it," Premier McGuinty said.
The government plans to invest an additional $88 million in home care this year - rising to $448 million over the next four years.
"And when seniors can no longer stay in their own homes, they deserve long-term care that treats them with dignity and respect," said Premier McGuinty during a visit to the Perley and Rideau Veterans' Health Centre.
This week's Budget will improve long-term care for over 70,000 Ontarians in long-term care homes.
It will boost hands-on care by hiring 2,000 new staff, 600 of them nurses, train front-line staff to provide more personal care, and establish a new independent advocate for seniors in long-term care homes, who will oversee inspections and compliance.
Premier McGuinty, who worked as an orderly in a veterans' hospital as a young man, said the plan also funds the 3,760 new long-term care beds opening this year.
Home care provides personal support and homemaking, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, speech-language services, social work and compassionate end-of-life care for seniors who need help to live on their own - as well as patients discharged from hospital, individuals with Multiple Sclerosis, Alzheimer's disease and other physical and mental disabilities.
Long-term care homes provide ongoing care to seniors who are unable to stay in their own homes but do not require the acute care provided by hospitals.
"With our four-year plan for change, we have chosen to work with Ontarians to deliver the results in health care we all want and may all some day need," Premier McGuinty said.
"This is the right thing to do, with Ontarians, for Ontarians."

Be aware of new car-jacking scheme
Imagine: You walk across the parking lot, unlock your car and get inside. Then you lock all your doors, start the engine and shift into REVERSE. Habit!
You look into the rear-view window to back out of your parking space and you notice a piece of paper, some sort of advertisement stuck to your rear window.
So,you shift into PARK, unlock your doors and jump out of your vehicle to remove that paper (or whatever it is) that is obstructing your view... when you reach the back of your car, that is when the car-jackers jump out of nowhere ... jump into your car and take off -- your engine was running, your purse is in the car, and they practically mow you down as they speed off in your car.
BE AWARE OF THIS NEW SCHEME Just drive away and remove the paper that is stuck to your window later ... and be thankful that you read this email and that you forwarded it to your friends

Low-carb diet quicker way to lose weight - Less of Rice & Curry
From: www.chinaview.cn
BEIJING, May 18, (Xinhuanet) -- Two US studies have shown that cutting down on pasta, bread and potatoes is a quicker way to lose weight than eating fewer fatty foods. The first study, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, was conducted on some 132 overweight volunteer adults in Philadelphia.
People on the "low-carb" diet, in which they ate less than 30 grams of carbohydrates a day, lost five to nine kilograms after six months. The volunteers who used the diet have not gained back the weight.
In the second study, which followed 120 overweight volunteers for six months, the low-carb dieters lost on average 12 kilograms, while the low-fat diet group lost on average 6 kilograms.
But scientists warn that people with diabetes or hypertension should use a low-carb diet under a doctor's supervision and the diet should be combined with excercise. Enditem

Environmental benefits of healthy lawns often overlooked
MISSISSAUGA, ON, May 14 /CNW/ - Across North America, more than 20 million acres of lawns have sprung back to life, providing a soft landing for kids at play, a blanket for families to picnic and a cushion for bare feet to roam.
Yet the greatest benefit of healthy grass - what it means to the environment - is one that is nearly always overlooked. Indeed, turf is about much more than aesthetics. For most urban communities, it's the foundation of the neighborhood's ecosystem.
"As a society we tend to take the benefits of grass for granted," said Jim Beard Ph.D., one of the leading turf experts in the United States and the chief scientist at the International Sports Turf Institute. "Because it's around us every day, people don't think about the fact that a healthy turf generates oxygen for improved air quality and controls runoff and erosion.
Most homeowners don't realize noise and air pollution are reduced in most suburban areas because the grass ecosystem serves as a natural filter for the environment.
"The scientific evidence clearly shows that a healthy lawn is good for the environment."
Specifically, Beard and other scientists say a healthy lawn provides the following environmental benefits:

Perhaps the benefits of turf are largely unnoticed since the lawn as we know it today is a relatively new phenomenon. At the turn of the 20th century, lawns - where they existed - were the product of sweepings from haymow and were filled with weeds that were difficult, if not impossible, to control.
But in 1907, an Ohio-based entrepreneur named O.M. Scott began offering grass seed by mail that was relatively weed-free for its time. It wasn't until the 1920s that Scott began selling grass seed in retail stores.
O.M. Scott's small-town operation eventually became The Scotts Company, which is still based within a few miles of its origins in Marysville, Ohio.
The company, now 136 years old, has grown to become the world's largest marketer of branded products for consumer lawn and gardens. Throughout its history, the company has continued to innovate and has developed grasses that are easier to grow, more resistant to disease, tolerant of drought and virtually free of weeds. Scotts' other innovations include the first controlled release lawn fertilizer, first pest control product for lawns and the first lawn spreader.
"It's true that most homeowners are making large investments in their lawns because they take pride in the beauty associated with them," said Dr. Karl Danneberger, a professor of Horticulture and Crop Science at The Ohio State University. "But it's important for homeowners to know that the beauty they're creating actually is helping to support the environment."
Turf scientists say one of the best ways to achieve these benefits is to maintain healthy turf, which means feeding it on a regular basis with a fertilizer that contains nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium. While some people believe these fertilizers are likely to run off a lawn and cause pollution, the scientists say the opposite is true.
"Like human beings, there are vital nutrients that grass needs to be as healthy as possible," said Dr. Beard, who is also professor emeritus at Texas A&M University. "And just like people, if grass is well-fed, it becomes healthier and stronger. Multiple studies have shown that healthy turf acts as a sponge, actually reducing runoff not causing it."
Feeding a lawn is not a complicated process. However, it's important that homeowners apply the product correctly, which means using it in the proper amounts, sweeping excess particles from the driveway or patio back onto the lawn and avoiding putting products on streets, where they can be inadvertently washed into storm drains.
"Responsible use of products not only will help create healthy turf, but it's also a sure way that all homeowners can help to protect the environment," said Chris Schmenk, director of Environmental Stewardship at The Scotts Company. "We certainly don't want to see the environmental benefits of healthy lawns diminished by improper use of our products - or any lawn care product."
Schmenk urges homeowners to read and follow label instructions for both the use and storage of fertilizers and other lawn and garden products. Homeowners who are confused about which product to buy or how to properly use lawn care products can call the company's toll-free helpline at 800-543-8873 or by visiting the company's web site, www.scotts.com.