seniors

Tuesday May 4, 2021

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday May 4, 2021

Ontario government needs to wake up and make nursing homes a top priority

May 16, 2020

The people of Ontario didn’t need two new reports to tell them Doug Ford’s government was missing in action when COVID-19 hit the province’s nursing homes last year.

The deaths of nearly 4,000 long-term-care residents and 11 employees during the pandemic had already spoken for themselves. And that grim message amounted to a scathing indictment of governmental ineptitude at the highest levels. 

Yet for all this, Ontarians really did need Friday’s report from the Long-Term Care COVID-19 Commission along with the one from Auditor-General Bonnie Lysyk two days earlier. They’re essential for telling us what we should — make that must — do for the sake of the 115,000 of the province’s most vulnerable citizens who live in nursing homes today.

According to the commission, the Ford government was completely without a comprehensive plan to protect nursing homes when the pandemic hit. Then, not only was its response “slow, unco-ordinated and lacking in urgency,” it failed to heed the lessons of the first wave. As a result, more residents died in the second wave than the initial one.

November 19, 2020

For its part, the auditor-general’s report denounced not only the current provincial government but governments stretching back over a decade. Not one of them followed up on the recommendations made by an expert panel after the 2003 SARS outbreak to prepare long-term-care facilities for a future health-care crisis. 

Not one of them addressed the concerns about the litany of long-standing weaknesses that had been identified in the nursing-home system. And so the province’s nursing homes, which consume seven per cent of the health-care budget, became pandemic disaster zones.

For some Ontarians, this may all sound painfully familiar, something they’d just as soon forget after they condemn the current government. 

But these two reports are important for more than putting on the record a precise diagnosis of what went so badly wrong in the province’s nursing homes over the past year. Their greatest, and hopefully most lasting, value will be in the prescription they offer for what should be done now.

May 27, 2020

The best way forward will demand more funding, more and better-paid staff, an end to overcrowded wards, better coordination with the rest of the health-care system and — for goodness sake — a pandemic plan. Ontario also needs a new model for building and managing new nursing homes, and the Long-Term Care COVID-19 Commission came up with a promising proposal for one. 

It recommends constructing new homes that are paid for upfront by private investors who receive a return on their capital with profit over time. However the homes will be operated and the residents cared for by a mission-driven organization. It could be public, not-for-profit or for-profit. But the sole focus of those running the homes must be the care of the residents and certainly not returns for investors.

January 27, 2021

What matters now is what the Ford government and the people of this province commit to doing with this and all the other ideas in these reports. Ontario Long-Term Care Minister Merrilee Fullerton promised Monday to adopt many of the recommendations from the commission’s 332-page report. But what else could she say?

Governments and the public have notoriously short memories. Premier Ford will face many expensive demands for all kinds of changes coming out of this pandemic.

The only way to ensure Ontario’s nursing homes never experience another catastrophe like COVID-19 is to make the homes an absolute, non-negotiable priority. The government will say they are. But only the people of Ontario, the people who vote and pay taxes, can guarantee the government acts. (Hamilton Spectator Editorial) 

 

Thursday March 25, 2021

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday March 25, 2021

There will ‘absolutely’ be queue jumping for Ontario COVID-19 vaccines in Phase 2, task force member says

A member of Ontario’s vaccine task force says that there will “absolutely” be some people jumping the line for COVID-19 vaccines in the second phase of the province’s rollout but he says the issue can be at least partly mitigated by having more family doctors administer shots.

March 4, 2021

The Doug Ford government has said that it will prioritize nearly three million people with pre-existing conditions as part of the next phase of its vaccine rollout but it has released few details on how it will identify those people and verify their medical history.

That has led to some concerns about queue-jumping, which could ultimately mean that the people most at risk of a severe outcome from COVID-19 have to wait longer for their shots.

“Listen it is not going to be perfect. Even if we have primary care expanded and in their clinics vaccinating individuals where they know their patients and they know who would be a good candidate for the first part of phase two and the second part of phase two that doesn’t fully solve this problem,” infectious disease specialist Dr. Issac Bogoch, who sits on Ontario’s vaccine task force, told CP24 on Tuesday morning. “There will be some honour system and you know what this isn’t perfect. There will be some people who jump the line, there will be, there absolutely will be. This is going to be a challenging thing to police.”

The Ford government has provided a list of 24 health conditions that would qualify residents for vaccines ahead of the general public and has broken them up into three categories – highest risk, high risk and at-risk.

Bogoch said that he doesn’t believe the issue of queue jumping will be a significant problem for the province, especially given the fact that the vaccines themselves will become a much less “limited resource” in the coming months.

But he said that the government will have to find some better ways to verify medical conditions and may have to “rely on peoples goodwill to wait their turn for vaccination” to a certain extent, as well.

“It is being billed as an 11 out of 10 problem when it probably is a two or three out of 10 problem,” he said. (CTV) 

 

Wednesday January 27, 2021

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday January 27, 2021

Ontario health experts demand province abolish for-profit long-term care

With hundreds of Ontario long-term care residents dead and COVID-19 outbreaks continuing to ravage facilities across the province, a group of health experts is pushing the province to abolish for-profit long-term care facilities.

November 19, 2020

“When you think about for-profit homes, they’re by design created to have one thing in mind and that’s profits for shareholders. It’s not care for our seniors,” Dr. Naheed Dosani, said Tuesday on CBC Radio’s Metro Morning.

“This is a humanitarian crisis.” 

Dosani, a palliative care physician for the William Osler Health System, which has hospitals in Brampton and Etobicoke, is one of more than 215 Ontario doctors and researchers who have joined the Doctors for Justice in Long-Term Care campaign.

Despite repeated assertions from Premier Doug Ford, Long-Term Care Minister Merrilee Fullerton and other provincial officials that Ontario was building an “iron ring” around its long-term care facilities to protect residents from a second wave of the virus, deaths have continued to mount.

Out of more than 5,900 COVID-19-related deaths in the province, more than 3,400 were in long-term care, according to provincial statistics.

Most recent is the outbreak at Roberta Place Long Term Care Home in Barrie, Ont., where almost every single resident has contracted COVID-19. Genome sequencing has also confirmed that a highly transmissible variant of the virus first detected in the United Kingdom has been found at the home, according to the local public health unit.

The facility was reporting 44 resident deaths as of Monday. (CBC) https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-long-term-care-1.5888226

 

Tuesday December 15, 2020

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday December 15, 2020

Seniors, long-term care workers should be first in line for COVID-19 vaccine, committee says

The independent committee charged with deciding who should be the first Canadians to be vaccinated against COVID-19 today released its final directive recommending that long-term care home residents and seniors over the age of 80 get priority access to shots.

May 27, 2020

The National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) said the initial, limited quantity of vaccine doses should be reserved for people who are most at risk of contracting the virus and developing severe symptoms.

While the federal government is procuring the vaccines and consulting with bodies like NACI to help coordinate distribution based on need, it will be up to the individual provinces and territories to decide who gets vaccinated when.

Canada’s long-term care homes have been hit hard by the novel coronavirus, with thousands of deaths reported since the onset of this pandemic.

NACI said that since the elderly residents of long-term care and assisted living facilities, retirement homes and chronic care hospitals face “severe outcomes” and a much greater chance of dying from the disease, they should be at the top of the list for the initial batch of roughly six million doses that will be made available in Canada in the first three months of 2021.

April 1, 2020

Pfizer’s vaccine, which is expected to be the first product approved by regulators for use in Canada, requires two doses — so roughly three million people should be inoculated in this first stage of the rollout.

NACI said it’s not just the residents who should go first — it’s also recommending that provinces and territories prioritize the staff who work at these sites for early vaccination.

After long-term care home residents and staff are immunized, NACI said the next priority group should be all Canadians over the age of 80.

“All adults of advanced age should be prioritized for initial doses of authorized COVID-19 vaccines, beginning with adults 80 years of age and older, then decreasing the age limit in 5-year increments to age 70 years as supply becomes available,” the final directive reads.

June 9, 2020

After the 80-plus cohort is vaccinated, front line health care workers should be next in the queue, said NACI.

The committee said that doctors, nurses and other staff at hospitals should get their shots early to maintain staffing levels in the health care system.

“Immunizing health care workers and other workers functioning in a health care capacity (e.g. personal support workers) minimizes the disproportionate burden of those taking on additional risks to protect the public, thereby upholding the ethical principle of reciprocity,” the directive reads.

June 3, 2015

NACI also expressed concern about Indigenous adults living in communities “where infection can have disproportionate consequences, such as those living in remote or isolated areas.”

Because health care options are limited at the best of times in these remote areas,

Pandemic Times

Indigenous individuals can face an elevated risk of death and “societal disruption,” NACI said. For that reason, the committee said that some First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities should be in the first cohort to get vaccinated.

These four groups — long-term care residents and staff, the elderly, front line health care workers and some Indigenous adults — are expected to consume all of the six million doses to be delivered in the first three months of 2021.

“As a ballpark, these four groups of people, as things are rolled out, should be covered by the initial doses,” said Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief public health officer. (CBC News) 

 

Wednesday September 30, 2020

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday September 30, 2020

It’s time to consider shutting down casinos, theatres and malls, leading health expert says

As COVID-19 cases continue to pile up, a leading health expert says the Ontario government should consider shutting down casinos, movie theatres and shopping malls. Industry defenders, meanwhile, say closures would be unnecessary and unfair.

July 17, 2020

“Closing them completely should be a last resort. But I think we need to consider everything right now. How surgical can we afford to be?” said Dr. Abdu Sharkawy, an infectious disease specialist with the University Health Network.

Tuesday, Ontario had 554 new COVID-19 cases, down from a record-setting 700 the day before. But Sharkawy warns we haven’t come close to the peak of the second wave.

“I have no doubt that we’ll be seeing a thousand cases per day within the next two to three weeks,” said Sharkawy, who was surprised to see some Ontario casinos reopen on Monday for the first time since March. Casinos had been allowed to open since the province hit Stage 3 in mid-July, but casino operators had been negotiating unsuccessfully with the province to boost a 50-customer cap.

June 17, 2020

Those casinos are all managed by Great Canadian Gaming Co., which runs 11 casinos in Ontario, including at Woodbine and Mohawk.

Shutting casinos down wouldn’t be fair to the industry’s 17,000 workers in Ontario, said Paul Burns, president and CEO of the Canadian Gaming Association, the casino industry’s national trade association.

A spokesperson for the provincial ministry of health said the government is still monitoring the COVID situation across Ontario, and could implement further restrictions.

“The government, in consultation with public health experts, continues to review trends from a range of criteria on an ongoing basis to determine if public health measures need to be adjusted or tightened,” said Anna Miller. 

Allowing just 50 customers into a casino that’s designed for thousands isn’t a money-maker, said Burns. Not that it’s being done for charitable purposes, he admitted.

“They wanted to demonstrate to public health officials that they could open and operate in a safe manner. It’s not economically viable at 50 people,” said Burns. Eventually, Burns said the casino industry would like to see more gamblers coming through the doors. (The Hamilton Spectator)