‘All hands on deck’ at seniors homes

Premier says Ontario, Ottawa working together to decide which homes get Red Cross staff support

TORONTO — Some of Ontario’s long-term-care homes will need more assistance than others to handle the second wave of COVID-19, Premier Doug Ford said Tuesday as the province weighs which facilities should get help from the Canadian Red Cross.

Ford said the provincial and federal governments are working together to finalize details of the deployment, which was announced over the weekend.

Asked why the additional support was required, and whether it would be provided to other facilities down the road, Ford said only that it’s “all hands on deck” as cases of the novel coronavirus continue to rise.

“I just want to make sure we have all the support we need in these long-term-care homes,” he said in a news conference.

“As the spread continues, no matter if it’s long-term care or any other areas … the greater the spread in the community, the greater the chance it’s going to get into long-term-care homes.”

On Sunday, the federal government announced it had approved a request from Ontario to send the Red Cross to seven long-term-care facilities in Ottawa.

The federal minister of public safety, Bill Blair, tweeted that the organization would “help assess and stabilize the situation” in the homes, but gave no further details regarding its role.

The Canadian Red Cross said it was also waiting for details to be finalized, but that it would likely offer similar support to what it provided to Quebec long-term-care facilities.

Scores of Red Cross-trained workers were sent to longterm-care homes in Quebec over the summer to provide temporary support until staff trained by the province could take over. Military personnel had previously been dispatched to the facilities.

According to the Red Cross website, workers sent to longterm-care homes may take on duties such as helping residents with daily activities, reporting and documentation, and overseeing the work of the longterm-care team.

Critics said the lack of details about the Ontario deployment shows the province and its long-term-care homes aren’t sufficiently prepared.

“After weeks of insisting that long-term-care facilities were ready for a second wave of COVID-19, the Ford government is once again scrambling to contain outbreaks,” NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said.

“This is a total failure and Doug Ford needs to tell us today: what homes are at risk and what are they doing to prepare?”

COVID-19 tore through Ontario’s long-term-care-homes in the pandemic’s first wave and has killed more than 1,950 residents.