Are any Hamilton care homes on the high-risk ‘red’ list?

‘People deserve to know exactly what’s happening in those homes,’ NDP says

The province refuses to reveal if any area long-term-care homes are among the 19 facilities on the highrisk “red” list that Premier Doug Ford says his government is “throwing everything” at to fix.

Neither the Ministry of LongTerm Care nor the minister’s office answered The Spectator’s questions about whether any Hamilton, Burlington or Haldimand and Norfolk homes were on the list.

“Having a parent move into longterm care is a scary time for everyone — and having your loved one alone in care during a pandemic is gut-wrenching,” said NDP Leader Andrea Horwath. “People deserve to know exactly what’s happening in those homes.”

The NDP has been calling on Ford for nearly a week to make the “secret” list public, saying it’s vital information for families.

“Imagine not knowing if your mom’s home is on that red list?” said Horwath, Hamilton Centre MPP. “The communications and

transparency problems in longterm care began long before COVID-19, but the pandemic has turned problems into crises for so many families.”

Hamilton public health also wouldn’t say which local homes are listed as red for “high risk,” yellow for “watch” or green for “managing well.” Hamilton’s medical officer of health, Dr. Elizabeth Richardson, suggested she doesn’t have the most up-to-date list.

“What we do is contribute to that assessment,” said Richardson. “The final rating, we don’t have until after all that data goes in, so Ontario Health is really the best person to get the most up-to-date data from.”

Ford said eight of the 19 homes have now been taken over by the province. Those homes have been made public and none are in the Hamilton area.

“The hot spots, we’re all over right now,” he said “We’re throwing everything we can at these homes and we’re going to fix the problem we inherited.”

But he wouldn’t make public the other 11 hot spots.

“This is very fluid,” he said. “They can be red one day and start moving to yellow and green as they fix their issues within a few days and vice versa. They can go from green to yellow to red, so it’s constantly moving back and forth.”

The calls for transparency come on the same day the Ontario Patient Ombudsman announced an investigation into the experiences of residents and caregivers in long-term care homes that have had COVID-19 outbreaks.

“We feel this investigation will help long-term care homes prepare for future outbreaks of infectious diseases, including COVID-19,” said executive director Craig Thompson. His office has received 150 complaints provincewide since putting out a public appeal April 26.

Six of the complaints are in an area including Hamilton, Burlington, St. Catharines, Grimsby, Niagara Falls and Brampton. In addition, 23 anonymous complaints could be from anywhere in Ontario.

“Our office would like to thank every resident, caregiver and staff person of a long-term care home for having the courage to come forward with their complaints,” said Thompson. “We are committed to resolving these complaints and amplifying the voices of residents and caregivers as we learn from their experiences.”

The investigation will ask two key questions:

How did each home’s actions or inaction in response to outbreak affect the care of residents?

What are the common system factors?

It will cover staffing, visitation restrictions, infection prevention and control procedures and communication.

The Patient Ombudsman is still accepting complaints at www.patientombudsman.ca or 1-888-321-0339.

It’s the second investigation launched in two days after Ontario Ombudsman Paul Dubé announced on Monday that he will investigate oversight of long-term care homes during the pandemic by the province’s Ministry of Long-Term Care and Ministry of Health.

Dubé will focus on whether the province’s oversight during the coronavirus crisis has been adequate to ensure the safety of residents and staff.

“The Canadian Armed Forces report painted a stunning portrait of the situation in longterm care during this crisis; our investigation will look at the systemic issues that led to it, and will make constructive recommendations for corrective action,” said Dubé.

The Special Ombudsman Response Team will look at complaint handling, inspections, emergency planning, steps taken to support long-term care homes during COVID-19, collection of data, rates of infection and deaths in long-term care and communication.

“The pandemic has strained public services immensely, but also demonstrated how vital they are,” Dubé said. “Never has it been more important to ensure that these systems are working as they should.”

Richardson has called on the province to include retirement homes in its promised independent commission on long-term care. Hamilton’s two worst outbreaks were at Rosslyn Retirement Residence on King Street East and Cardinal Retirement Residence on Herkimer Street. Their outbreaks account for half of the 38 deaths and 136 hospitalizations in Hamilton.

Hamilton had 697 confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 as of Tuesday, while Burlington had 137.