Flaws in long-term care exposed, again
Back in May I suggested that the pandemic, specifically the issues prevalent in Ontario’s long-termcare homes, was a defining moment for Doug Ford and his Progressive Conservatives.
It has been six months since then and things are still not looking good.
Perhaps I was being overly optimistic all those long months ago, thinking that absolutely everything would be done to protect our most vulnerable demographic, that our current government would prevail in its war on COVID -19 in our long-term-care homes.
Unfortunately, with the second wave of the pandemic well underway, that is not the case. We are once again seeing outbreaks in long-term-care homes across the province. COVID-19 has been allowed to run rampant with devastating effects.
Since the start of the pandemic there have been more than 2,200 deaths in long-term-care homes in Ontario. That is 62 per cent of the total of 3,553. Out of the province’s 626 long-term-care homes, there have been outbreaks in more than 400.
In Scarborough, there was an outbreak declared at Rockcliffe Care Community on Nov. 2. By mid-November there were 136 residents testing positive as well as 66 staff in the 204-bed facility.
Locally, we have not been immune to such outbreaks. In Peterborough we are coping with the ongoing outbreak at Fairhaven.
So, has anything changed since May? Have we done anything differently since the government opted to send our armed forces into long-term-care homes?
After they had further released a damning report detailing disturbing incidents of abuse and neglect within these homes?
We certainly did not learn anything from prior influenza A and B outbreaks in our long-term-care homes either. What we needed was a targeted response to the situation with significantly enhanced infectious disease protocols in these homes. Thoughts, prayers and drive-by offerings of support only go so far.
The province did, however, initiate a fancy new colour-coded COVID-19 response framework to better manage and standardize the regional response to help prevent the spread.
However, this flawed system ignores certain variables.
Take for instance last week when the number of active cases in Peterborough stood at 21. Of those cases, 13 were residents and three were staff at Fairhaven. That left five total active cases within the greater community. Of course, our region was moved up to the yellow zone this past week as a result.
How does limiting capacity at religious services and private social gatherings, reducing the volume of music in retail locations, reducing the time in which alcohol can be sold and consumed at bars and restaurants protect our more vulnerable populations such as those within our long-term-care homes? How many cases were attributed to these types of establishments to warrant such restrictions? Where is the data that would support these enhanced measures?
We keep hearing that we need to be responsible citizens, follow the rules, limit our social gatherings and only go out when necessary. We are told not to party or eat Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner with our families.
Yet, we have been doing all these things for months now and still the virus is penetrating the one place it never should have been able to, our long-term-care homes. The reality is that our various governments have been failing our seniors and health-care providers for years now. COVID-19 has not changed that.
I suppose as long as we continue to point a finger of blame and shame on those who opt to share a meal with their family and friends, whether at a restaurant, bar or residence, that we can continue to ignore the dire situation within our long-term-care homes.
Our focus should be preserving the life of those who are vulnerable, not unreasonably hindering the lives of those who are not.