Petition seeks to improve long-term care staffing levels
A Chatham-Kent woman is calling on the provincial government to improve the ratio of staff members to patients within longterm care homes.
Joanna Vaughan has been circulating a petition in the area which states more employees are needed to “provide adequate, humane and timely care to residents and improve their quality of life.”
As a long-term care worker, she said she felt she needed to do something to improve care for seniors. “I see a lot of sad things and I’ve been paying attention to the news and whatnot and our seniors need our help and I want people to stop turning their backs on our seniors because it is so wrong what goes on,” she said.
Vaughan said this has gone on for years but the Ontario government hasn’t addressed these concerns. According to the petition, which is being supported by ChathamKent-Leamington MPP Rick Nicholls’ office, there is sometimes one staff member for every 14 patients. This causes residents of longterm care homes to go without food or baths, said Vaughan. “People that are palliative in a nursing home, they maybe get checked on once, maybe twice throughout a shift,” she said. Vaughan said she has received many emails about long-term care homes since word got out about her petition.
“I have other people that are upset that it’s just for long-term care because now our retirement homes are doing the work of (personal support workers) in longterm without the tools,” she said. About 1,000 petition papers are out at businesses in ChathamKent, said Vaughan, but she wants this to go out across Ontario. Vaughan said anyone looking to get involved should join her Facebook group at facebook.com/ groups/377246886406226.