ICYMI - Four out of five COVID-19 deaths have been linked to seniors homes. That says a lot about how Canada regards its elders
What went wrong? What can Canada do to fix it before the next wave hits? This look at the tragedy in Canada’s long term care homes and the emergency measures to protect the most vulnerable is part of the Post’s ongoing Lessons from a Pandemic series.
Canadian Forces troops are deployed to help as long as needed, to maintain what Ontario Premier Doug Ford called an “iron ring” around long term care homes. Quebec has called in more than 1,000 military medical personnel such as nurses and paramedics, Ontario a smaller number, backed by support troops, which Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan said was “not a typical Canadian Armed Forces operation.”
Rather, through nothing more than their own age and infirmity, they are forced to endure the greatest exposure to the coronavirus risk, to live communally with other victims, surrounded by cinderblock walls, attended to by overwhelmed staff who turn to overwhelmed private management for support, and do not always get it, as new litigation has revealed.
Jagmeet Singh, the federal NDP leader, told CTV’s Question Period that Canada should end the private provision of long term care and bring all such homes under new federal regulation. But even that is being done again on the fly, in response to new crises and disagreements over how to handle the pandemic at the institutional level.
The problems are also legal, about workers rights and the ability of an industry to protect those who carry out its most crucial functions of feeding and caring for the elderly.
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