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
RECENT PRINTABLES
INDEX (CLICK on Carol’s contributed collated collections by date)
- 18 May 2020 Old money Tortoise Thousands of care home residents are dying from Covid-19, and staff are on minimum wage. But in the background, big profits are being made. Ian Birrell investigates a broken industry
CLICK for Carol’s complete collection of carefully crafted carewatch content
Quotes of the Week:
Our research found that the best way to guarantee that adequate long-term care and assistance will be available to every Canadian who needs it at a reasonable cost to society is through comprehensive, public, universal, compulsory and standardized insurance coverage. In other words, a public long-term care insurance plan, along the lines of what medicare already does for medical care in Canada, is the most desirable option.
Michel Grignon is an expert advisor with EvidenceNetwork.ca, an associate professor with the departments of Economics and Health, Aging & Society at McMaster University and Director of the Centre for Health Economics and Policy Analysis (CHEPA). Nicole F. Bernier is the research director of the Faces of Aging program at the Institute for Research on Public Policy.
As you’re making plans to enjoy the summer with family and friends, please take steps to minimize risk of #COVID19AB:
✅ Keep at least 2 m apart from people outside your household/cohort
✅ Wear a mask when you can’t
(1/2)— Dr. Deena Hinshaw (@CMOH_Alberta) July 11, 2020
End for-profit seniors’ care now: COVID19 may be unprecedented, but its impacts are being felt in long-term care homes because seniors’ care has been undervalued, underfunded & privatized. Article w/ @ProfStraussLBST in @ccpa Monitor. Beautiful cover by Alisha Davidson. #cdnpoli pic.twitter.com/Zm5VHi3RYD
— Andrew Longhurst (@a_longhurst) July 11, 2020
… (2/2)
✅ Wash/sanitize hands after touching common-touch surfaces
✅ Avoid BBQs, potlucks and sharing food/utensils
✅ Gather outside to reduce risk of spread— Dr. Deena Hinshaw (@CMOH_Alberta) July 11, 2020
#COVID-19 claimed 6,885 seniors living in 1,143 Canadian care homes – many of which don't offer air conditioned rooms because its NOT required. Sadly the second-wave of deaths in these homes will now be due to the heat. Another avoidable tragedy. https://t.co/eBmi7FJ23E
— Samir Sinha (@DrSamirSinha) July 8, 2020
Main Headline:
How we analyzed the numbers of COVID-19-related deaths in seniors’ homes
Which facilities were included
All long-term care or retirement home facilities in Canada that reported 10 or more COVID-19-related resident deaths between March 1 and May 31, 2020.
How the rate of deaths was calculated
We divided the number of COVID-19-related deaths at each facility by the number of beds, and multiplied by 100 to give us a rate.
We used beds per facility rather than the number of residents because it is a more constant and obtainable representation of the size of the facility. However, this method does underestimate the rate of death in facilities where not all beds are occupied.
How we defined a resident death
CBC News established that a death was linked to a facility if it was confirmed by a provincial government, a health region or health board, the facility itself or a close friend or family member of the deceased person. We kept track of these deaths individually and verified our totals as of May 31 with the health regions or, in some cases, with individual facilities.