![](\"https:\/\/postmediatorontosun.files.wordpress.com\/2020\/04\/donna-duncan_headshot.jpg?quality=60&strip=all&w=419\")
<\/figure>\n\u201cThere are those who still think of long-term care as that of the 1980s when they (homes) had lots of tea parties and went on day trips,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Mehra said by the time the 36,000 on the wait list get a bed, or a room, they are even \u201cmore frail,\u201d with 86% needing full care.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a stigma around it (long-term care homes),\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The OLTCA 2020 budget submission called it a \u201cperfect storm.\u201d That submission talked about 80% of LTCs having trouble filling shifts, new beds not getting built fast enough and the aging demographic \u2014 namely that over the next 20 years there will be twice as many seniors over 75.<\/p>\n
Mehra said the OHC held two protests in 2018 and 2019 on the front lawn of Queen\u2019s Park, the latter one attended by 8,000 people, to draw attention to the plight of PSWs and staff shortages in long-term care.<\/p>\n
They were ignored.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe issue didn\u2019t get onto the radar until this happened,\u201d Mehra said. \u201cIt\u2019s terrible \u2026 it\u2019s just hideous.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of people who care deeply are in this sector,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
Marissa Lennox, chief policy officer with the Canadian Association of Retired Persons (CARP), said it was \u201cabsolutely\u201d an accident waiting to happen and she blames the lack of response, in part, on the assumption that these vulnerable individuals are already \u201cknocking on death\u2019s door.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said while many hospitals were prepared due to lessons learned from SARs and other epidemics, it feels like long-term care was an \u201cafterthought.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lennox said a \u201cglaring hole\u201d in all of this is that LTCs are not \u201ceffectively designed\u201d to isolate those who are affected from those who are not because of a lack of \u201cflexible space.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re not properly testing people and not equipping staff with proper PPEs, it\u2019s a nightmare,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The measures the Ontario government has put in place \u2014 such as ensuring a PSW only works in one LTC home \u2014 are more than a month too late, she added.<\/p>\n
Duncan feels those standing in front of the media still have a lot to learn about the long-term care sector.<\/p>\n
Everyone is an armchair critic when what they really need is staff and more personal protective equipment, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope this is the last time we ever see this kind of crisis again, but my fear is that we will revert back to the status quo,\u201d Lennox said. \u201cThere was a crisis in long-term care before the pandemic hit.\u201d<\/p>\n