Long-Term Care Today
New Feature: News from the front lines in Seniors’ LTC, Inspired by Carol Wodak founding member of CITIZEN WATCH
BACKGROUNDER: CITIZEN WATCH was created as a public service for the people of Alberta. It was the work of an ever-widening network of individuals from across the province, including families and friends of long term care and assisted or supportive living residents and those requiring long term care supports in their own homes. CITIZEN WATCH WEBSITE
PRINTABLES:Carol’s carefully crafted carewatch content
RECENT PRINTABLES
Quote of the Week:
Canadians have ‘deluded’ themselves about the state of long-term care.
Dr. Samir Sinha
Jan Legeros, ED of @LTCAManitoba, asked @_DebSchulte whether some of the $40B set aside for seniors' housing can be used to support the $45B infrastructure gap in the LTC sector. Will the federal government support seniors living in LTC? #seniorscare #cdnhealth #cdnpoli pic.twitter.com/rlIOrP0JGz
— CALTC.ca (@CALTC_CA) June 5, 2020
Infection control is important. But so is feeding people. It’s well past time to tear down the iron ring and let family caregivers into long-term care homes, by @picardonhealth https://t.co/0DhEAIt9AD via @globeandmail #Covid19 #NotJustAVisitor
— André Picard (@picardonhealth) June 6, 2020
Janice- I am a psychiatric nurse practitioner in long term care. It is heartbreaking that my patients cannot visit with their families! Even if they visit through a window, it is kept shut, and they can’t talk! Why not at least open the damned window and keep a safe distance???
— Carrie 🇺🇸 (@HumnbirdCorgi) June 6, 2020
Today we celebrated my grandmother's 91st birthday…still at a distance.
"In these pandemic times, vigilance is essential. But cruelty is still unacceptable".
"It’s time to let families visit long-term care [and retirement] homes" by @picardonhealth: https://t.co/5uIJA3GvAO pic.twitter.com/YnFpSgctit
— Nathan Stall (@NathanStall) June 6, 2020
“When you ask any older person where…they aspire to end up, they want to stay in their homes for as long as possible," @DrSamirSinha said.
“High-quality home care also saves money by keeping people out of nursing homes and hospitals.” https://t.co/bPV7opALsX— National Institute on Ageing 🇨🇦 (@RyersonNIA) June 3, 2020
Main Headlines
Burnt-out health-care workers warn of mass exodus, with no end in sight to mandatory redeployment to CHSLDs
Documents obtained by CBC News show at least one CIUSSS plans to keep employees reassigned until January
It’s been over a month on the front lines of the fight against COVID-19 for Julia, a speech language pathologist in west end Montreal. The army is withdrawing soldiers deployed to the long-term care home where she’s working, but for her, there’s no end in sight.
In late April, Julia was one of about 1,300 “involuntary deployments” — people in health-care-related fields conscripted to work in long-term care homes to make up for a critical shortage of staff as the pandemic ripped through them. Nearly 5,000 Quebecers have now died of COVID-19, 68 per cent of them residents of long-term care institutions, known as CHSLDs.
Now as spring turns to summer and Julia sweats through her protective gear in the facility where she is forced to work, she wonders when she’ll be able to go back to the job she loves and is trained to do.
I think about quitting every day, and I don’t think I’m the only one.
Julia, a speech language pathologist in west end Montreal