Royal Rose death prompts calls for transparency
NDP leader says more information needs to be provided to families with loved ones in seniors homes
While focusing on the concerns of the granddaughter of a woman who died in a Welland long-term-care home from COVID-19, NDP Leader Andrea Horwath repeated calls for increased transparency and communication for the families of residents.
More information needs to be provided to families of loved ones in seniors homes — including the release of a “red list” of all Ontario long-term-care homes deemed to be high-risk facilities, Horwath said.
“Imagine not knowing if your loved one is in a red-labelled home, or a home that’s on the red list here in Ontario. Imagine not knowing the results of your loved one’s COVID-19 test because the facility just isn’t returning your calls and you keep going to voice mail. This is a
story we’ve heard often during this pandemic,” Horwath said. “Governments should be helping Ontarians get the answers they need and make the best decisions they can make with that information to keep their loved ones safe and well.”
Ideally, Horwath said, there shouldn’t be a “red list” at all.
“The red list should mean you no longer have the capacity or the confidence of the people of Ontario or the government to do your job and look after our loved ones in care,” she said. Tammy Coutu, whose 99year-old grandmother Livia Lostracco died April 14 of COVID-19 at Royal Rose Place in Welland, joined Horwath for an online media conference to share her family’s heartwrenching story.
Coutu said her grandmother developed a cough on April 8 that grew worse. She was tested for COVID-19 on April 10, but “we were never contacted with the results.”
“There were no attempts to save her life. There were no attempts to get her to a hospital,” Coutu said.
Coutu said other long-termcare homes in Niagara managed to prevent outbreaks or quickly bring them under control, while the outbreak at Royal Rose was “very significant.”
With a track record of 71 residents infected in a home with 96 beds, Coutu wondered “how are they going to perform if there’s a second wave” of the virus?
“I believe there needs to be some action and accountability in these cases, because our loved ones were not protected and I don’t see the proof they were equipped to handle it and will be in the future.” Horwath said communication between long-term-care homes and families “has been a problem for years.”
“Having a parent or a loved one in long-term care during a pandemic is just gutwrenching and it’s days filled with fear and worry. People deserve to know in that context exactly what’s happening in the homes and what’s going on. They need more information to be able to keep their minds settled about the care that their loved ones are receiving.”
She said the province needs to do a better job of appointing hospitals to provide temporary management of long-term-care homes hard hit by COVID-19.
Ontario’s office of the Patient Ombudsman announced Tuesday it is investigating more than 150 complaints that long-termcare residents and staff were placed in “significant jeopardy.”
The Patient Ombudsman office will focus on the impact on residents and caregivers.
“We feel that this investigation will help long-term-care homes prepare for future outbreaks of infectious diseases, including COVID-19,” said Patient Ombudsman’s office executive director Craig Thompson.
Ombudsman Paul Dubé will investigate how the province managed the long-term-care system during the pandemic. Horwath said the Ombudsman’s investigation isn’t enough, adding a “full independent comprehensive find and fix judicial inquiry” into the facilities is needed.
“I welcome every effort to have folks provide answers that Ontarians deserve, but internal process like that or the commission that the government’s trying to pass off as an inquiry is an insult to the people of Ontario,” she said in an interview.
She said almost 650 seniors living in Ontario long-termcare homes have now lost their lives in a matter of a couple of months.
“The spread of COVID-19 through those homes should have never gone down the way it did.”
Royal Rose Place parent company Jarlette Health Service again did not respond to a request for information from The St. Catharines Standard.