QUOTABLES:
If infection gets into a long-term care home, you can be looking at over 10 per cent mortality in that group in people who otherwise had a reasonable quality of life and should have lived longer.
Dr. Lynora Saxinger, an infectious disease expert from the University of Alberta.
Hot of the Press
The @ONGov recent commitment to long-term care preparedness must be implemented quickly. There’s no time to waste. We learned in the spring that the earlier a long-term care home received critical supports the more likely they would avoid an outbreak. We must work together. pic.twitter.com/F65X3YSFY4
— Ontario LTC Assoc. (@OLTCAnews) October 30, 2020
No one should be left without their #PSW for days on end. End the #longtermcare and #homecare staff shortage or more lives will be lost! https://t.co/KRVhz7ny1Z
— C.A.R.P. (@CarpAdvocacy) October 30, 2020
Thank you to two more champions of long-term, @MichelleRempel and @LarryMaguireMP for meeting with us this afternoon. We look forward to continuing these important conversations about long-term care and how we can best support seniors across the country. pic.twitter.com/QG0uHkMedV
— CALTC.ca (@CALTC_CA) October 30, 2020
Canadian News:
‘I’m deathly afraid’: Long-term care residents fear emotional neglect, understaffing as 2nd wave looms
Ontario long-term care commission found chronic worker shortages have compounded pandemic’s toll
With winter looming and the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic gaining momentum across Canada, long-term care home residents say they fear their physical health is being guarded at the expense of their mental and emotional well-being.
“I actually went through here [my home] when this first happened and asked everybody if they would rather see their loved ones, with the risk of getting COVID, or the alternative. And they all said, ‘We’d rather die than not be able to see our family members and to be so ostracized,'” said Dianna Green, who lives in a long-term care home in Cranbrook, B.C.
“People need each other, they need contact with their families, they need contact with people who love them, they need to be touched, and I think that’s being forgotten about,” she told The Current‘s Matt Galloway.
“We’re so worried about preserving lives, but we’re not worried about how the lives are.”
Earlier this month, an independent commission tasked with investigating how the coronavirus spread in Ontario’s long-term care system heard dire warnings that care homes may not be ready for the second wave. Experts on the ground say that’s because they are still facing severe staffing shortages.
World News
Grieving daughter plans legal action over mum’s virus death after shock care homes report
Caroline Grattan says Margaret Johnston, 88, was put at risk because old people were discharged to care homes from hospitals.
A grieving daughter whose mum died of coronavirus at a nursing home is planning legal action after a shock report on hospital admissions.
Caroline Grattan was heartbroken when Margaret Johnston, 88, died days after contracting Covid-19 at the Orchard Care Centre in Tullibody, Clackmannanshire, where at least 14 virus deaths were confirmed.
Caroline said her mum was put at risk because old people were discharged to care homes from hospitals during the crisis.
On Wednesday, a report revealed that thousands of elderly patients were transferred from Scottish hospitals to care homes at the height of lockdown.
Caroline has alerted law firm Leigh Day, which is investigating potential legal action against care home operator HC-One on behalf victims’ families.
CAREWATCH BACKGROUND
CAREWATCH is 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)
| Aug 24, 2020 | ||
| Aug 16, 2020 | Aug 12, 2020 | Aug 3, 2020 |
| JULY 27. 2020 | JULY 6,2020 | JUNE 30, 2020 |
| JUNE 29, 2020 | JUNE 18, 2020 | JUNE 17, 2020 |
| May 31, 2020 | May 29, 2020 | May 15, 2020 |
OTHER PUBLICATIONS
- Nursing Home Basic Care Guarantee RNAO Submission to the Long-Term Care Staffing Study Advisory Group
- 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