Coming of Age: Meeting the needs of our aging population

Care doesn’t start with policy — it starts with people.

In this special episode of Coming of Age, host Donna Duncan sits down with the Honourable Natalia Kusendova-Bashta, Ontario’s Minister of Long-Term Care, for a deeply personal conversation about leadership, responsibility, and what it means to answer the call to care.

A registered nurse, Minister, MPP, mom, wife, daughter.. and even a student… Minister Kusendova-Bashta brings all of these identities into her leadership. Drawing on her nursing experience at the bedside, she reflects on how care shapes the choices we make as leaders, as systems, and as communities.

This conversation goes beyond politics, portfolios and priorities. It’s about the leader behind the role, and why, in long-term care, leadership is more than a job. It’s a calling.

Resources mentioned in this episode:
Pathways to becoming a nurse in Ontario and supports for entering a career in health care
Incentives to work in long-term care for nurses and PSWs
Ontario’s commitment to build and redevelop 58,000 long-term care spaces
In August 2025, Ontario committed to make Community Paramedicine for Long-Term Care program permanent and expanding it to serve more communities
Learn about the Improving Dementia Care Act that Minister Kusendova championed with MPP Laura Smith
Community access to long-term care pilot program
LTC Community Engagement Day. Engagement Day is a powerful opportunity to bring people together – residents, staff, families, and community leaders – to celebrate, connect, and advocate for long-term care. Join us September 18, 2026

If you are a member of the public or a family member with questions or comments about long-term care, please contact the Ministry of Long-Term Care or call their long-term care hotline, available 7 days a week at 1-866-434-0144.

Five years ago, Coming of Age launched during a global pandemic that exposed deep fractures in how we care for older adults.
For this milestone episode, host Donna Duncan reunites with our very first guest, award-winning journalist and author Moira Welsh to reflect on progress, persistent challenges and the future of aging in Ontario.

Moira’s new book, The Astonishing Lives of Older Women, shines a light on the gendered realities of longevity. Women live longer. They are more likely to experience financial vulnerability in later life. And too often, we fail to plan for what longer lives actually require.

So what has changed in the past five years?
Are we better prepared for aging culturally, financially and structurally?
And what would it take to shift from fearing aging to planning for it?

This conversation explores the evolving landscape of long-term care, the power and resilience of older women, and why aging well is not a private issue but a societal responsibility.

This episode was generously sponsored by our Sector Champion, PointClickCare.

Books and more by Moira Welsh:
The Astonishing Lives of Older Women: How to Create Pleasure Over Peril in Peak Longevity (available April 7, 2026)
How to live to 100 (or Die Trying) a new podcast with Moira Welsh
The Third Act, an ongoing first-of-its kind project that partners research expertise, thought leadership and journalism the Toronto Star is producing in collaboration with the National Institute on Ageing and Toronto Metropolitan University.
Happily Ever Older: Revolutionary Approaches to Long-Term Care

Other resources mentioned in this episode:
The Data: Long-Term Care in Ontario with insights on wait times, who lives in long-term care and more
Learn about the many ways Schlegel Villages is working to support its residents and neighbours – from sky-diving and other moments of living well.

Ontario is home to more than 330,000 people living with dementia today, a number expected to reach one million within a generation. Behind these staggering statistics are real people navigating profound changes in cognition, communication, and identity.

This episode brings together two experts in medicine and compassionate care to illustrate how Ontario’s long‑term care sector can honour the person first, always.
Dr. Sophiya Benjamin, Associate Professor at McMaster University and Schlegel Chair for Mental Health in Aging, and Co‑Founder of GeriMedRisk.
Adria Thompson, speech‑language pathologist, TEDx speaker, and founder of Be Light Care - the largest dementia education platform on social media.

This is a conversation about shifting from a medical lens to a human one, and about the powerful partnership between clinical expertise and compassionate communication that supports people living with dementia every day.

This episode was generously sponsored by our Sector Champion, ARJO.

Resources mentioned in this episode:
The Dementia Care App (coming soon), created by Adria Thompson, will provide instant access to more than 500 short, practical, easy-to-implement videos, all from the convenience of your smartphone. Whether you're a care partner at home or leading a care team, you can access fast, evidence-based support in the moments that matter.
Alzheimer’s Society of Ontario offers programs and services to help people living with dementia, care partners and healthcare professionals get the support they need.
Research Institute for Aging connects research to the real world and tackle the biggest issues facing an aging population, helping to change the way we age in Canada.
McMaster Institute for Research on Aging (MIRA) works to optimize the health and longevity of Canada’s aging population through leading-edge research, education and stakeholder collaboration. Explore their network of resources from the McMaster Optimal Aging Portal, the Voice community engagement network for research on aging, the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging and more

In long-term care, the workforce is the heart of every home. When we invest in long-term care as essential economic infrastructure, we not only provide compassionate care, we also strengthen Ontario’s GDP, create recession-proof jobs and provide reliable support for our aging population.

In this episode, host Donna Duncan is speaking with two respected leaders who are unpacking all the ways in which education, employers and government can work together to create a solid foundation for our future long-term care workforce.

Guests:
Carolyn Triemstra is the Manager, Living Classroom and Education Engagement Lead for the PREP LTC and Living Classroom programs led by the Research Institute for Aging through the Ontario CLRI.
Daniel Tisch Echevaria is President & CEO of the Ontario Chamber of Commerce. He is a business, public policy, and community leader, having held executive roles in government and the corporate sector, and senior governance roles at public institutions and non-profit associations.

The realities of the human resources healthcare crisis are urgent, but not unbeatable. There are simple, actionable steps that can be taken today to stabilize our current workforce and prevent the crisis from deepening in the future.

This episode was generously sponsored by StaffStat.

Resources Mentioned in This Episode
Preceptor Resource and Education Program in Long-Term Care (PREP LTC)
Supports Ontario long-term care homes with funding, online education, and tools to strengthen student mentorship, clinical placements, and building workforce capacity.

Primary care is often called the heartbeat of healthcare, and in Ontario’s rural and northern communities, it’s a lifeline. As more than half of long-term care spaces await redevelopment, local care teams are stepping up with new ideas and strong collaboration to help older adults age with dignity and connection.
In this episode, host Donna Duncan speaks with 3 inspiring women who are reshaping seniors’ care from the ground up:

Dr. Tara Kiran, a family doctor, leading primary-care researcher at Unity Health and the University of Toronto. Tara led the OurCare survey that helped shape Ontario’s new Primary Care Act and hosts Primary Focus.

Michèle Lajeunesse, Executive Director of the Marathon Family Health Team in Marathon, Ontario—about an eleven-and-a-half-hour drive north of Toronto. She’s seeing firsthand how team-based care is helping older adults stay well and supported in their communities.

Jennifer Burns West, interim CEO of Haliburton Highlands Health Services and board member of the Senior Care Network. Jennifer is reimagining rural healthcare through integrated services and global innovations like green care farms.

Together, they share insights, wisdom, test new care models, and build a more responsive primary care system strengthening seniors’ care across Ontario - including in long-term care homes, where collaboration is helping residents live well every day.

This episode was generously sponsored by our sector champion, PointClickCare.

Resources:
Seniors Care Network is responsible for the organization, coordination and governance of specialized geriatric services (SGS) in the Central East Region of Ontario Health East.

Learn more about OurCare Standard: a new way to assess primary care performance across Canada.

Click here to listen to Dr. Tara Kiran’s new podcast, Primary Focus

Mentioned in this episode: Marathon Family Health Team and Haliburton Highlands Health Services