{"id":12613,"date":"2020-06-30T11:22:46","date_gmt":"2020-06-30T15:22:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/?p=12613"},"modified":"2020-07-24T11:58:39","modified_gmt":"2020-07-24T15:58:39","slug":"open-letter-open-letter-to-doug-ford-signed-by-100-orgs-1-5-million-ontarians-ltc-commission-immediate-measures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/open-letter-open-letter-to-doug-ford-signed-by-100-orgs-1-5-million-ontarians-ltc-commission-immediate-measures\/","title":{"rendered":"<FONT COLOR = \"#E00000\">OPEN LETTER:<\/FONT> Open Letter to Doug Ford signed by over 200 organizations &#038; almost 2 million Ontarians &#8211; LTC commission &#038; immediate measures"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>(Updated: June 30, 2020)<\/p>\n<p><em>The Ontario Health Coalition sent an open letter to Premier Doug Ford signed by family councils, health professionals, social organizations, cultural organizations, seniors\u2019 and retirees\u2019 groups, health coalitions, legal clinics, and many others who collectively represent almost 2 million Ontarians. The letter is below. If your organization wants to sign on it isn&#8217;t too late; please email us at <span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><a style=\"color: #3366ff;\" href=\"mailto:ohc@sympatico.ca\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">ohc@sympatico.ca<\/a><\/span> with the subject line \u201cOpen Letter\u201d. Individuals who do not represent an organization can help also. You can use this letter as a template to write your own and email it to <span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><a style=\"color: #3366ff;\" href=\"mailto:premier@ontario.ca\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">premier@ontario.ca<\/a><\/span> and please cc us in.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Ontario Health Coalition<\/strong><\/h3>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Open Letter to Premier Doug Ford<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>May 28, 2020<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>While we are pleased that your government has committed to independence, non-partisanship and transparency with regards to the commission into long-term care and COVID-19, we are seeking some assurances regarding both this commission and the immediate measures needed that cannot wait for a commission. In addition, we believe that it is imperative that Ontario hold a full public commission or inquiry into the province\u2019s overall response to COVID-19, like the SARS Commission, as there are many lessons to be learned from this experience beyond the long-term care sector.<\/p>\n<p>To be clear, the Ontario Health Coalition called for the commission into long-term care to be under the Public Inquiry Act. You have voted against this in the Legislature. Failing that, Premier, we must state in the clearest possible terms that it will be unacceptable to the public if the commissioner(s) and any supporting staff are not fully independent of long-term care operators. Any long-term care commission must have unimpeachable credibility and operate in the public interest. This means it cannot be led or controlled by any partisan (political party) interests or by long-term care owners and operators. It must be transparent and open, not by invitation only. Access to the Commission must be equitable and it must allow for voices from families, residents, staff and their associations and unions, public interest groups and advocates who have worked closely on these issues. \u00a0Care workers and professionals must be protected to speak on the record about conditions in the homes. Testimony and research must be on the record and fully available publicly as with formal commissions and inquiries in the past, and the commission must report as quickly as possible.<\/p>\n<p>Further, this commission cannot delay immediate action being taken to stabilize and support the workforce to stop the COVID-19 outbreaks that continue to spread in long-term care homes across significant parts of Ontario. We need a coherent plan from your government to stop the spread of COVID-19 in long-term care and retirement homes, including concrete measures to improve PPE supply, workplace safety and infection control, and to stabilize the workforce. We urgently need your government to take leadership and concrete coordination measures to immediately address critical staffing shortages that mean even basic daily care like feeding, bathing, hygiene, human contact are not able to be done; that palliative care needs are not being met; that care for the gravely ill is less than what is needed, as follows:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><u>Understaffing in long-term care is critical and must be addressed<\/u>. The provincial government cannot rely on long-term care homes in crisis to get themselves out of crisis. There must be a coherent plan, led by our government, to step in with a set of coordinated, concrete measures to get staff into the homes that have lost staffing levels due to sickness, having to choose one part-time job, staff leaving etc. Leaving it to the providers to forge voluntary arrangements among themselves is not sufficient. Staff need a permanent improvement to their wages and access to full-time hours. This cannot be voluntary and there is no path to stability without the provincial government undertaking these measures. In addition to the permanent improvements to wages and access to full-time work, measures are needed while homes\u2019 operations remain under the emergency directives. Many staff have lost significant hours of work (and thus income) as a result of the requirement to choose one work site. They are risking their health and their families to go into the homes to do care work and the loss of hours is not offset by the pandemic pay increase. Yet some homes are bringing in PSW aides, nurses and others without giving their part-time staff any increase in hours. To address this, long-term care homes must be required to increase their pay for part-timers who have been required to give up part-time work in other homes to be equivalent to full-time pay and benefits, so as not to maintain the operator\u2019s economic incentive to limit the proportion of care delivered by full time staff. Further, the Minister of Long-Term Care must use her powers to revoke licences and appoint new management in long-term care homes that have uncontrolled outbreaks and evidence of negligence and poor practices.<\/li>\n<li><u>Infection control practices, workplace safety and access to PPE must be improved<\/u>. Reusing surgical masks patient after patient, resident after resident, would have been totally unacceptable before COVID-19. Insufficient access to N95 masks continues to be a problem and there are shortages of other equipment. There needs to be a clear plan from the government to improve the supply of PPE or develop our own. Leaving it to industry to do voluntarily has so far been insufficient. Standards for infection control and workplace safety must be improved. Staff need the appropriate equipment, enough supply and training in order to comply with them. Staff who are infected must be supported to isolate at home. The directive allowing health care facilities to require staff to work who have tested positive for COVID-19 but are asymptomatic is dangerous and should be changed as should the loopholes that fail to stop agency staff from working at more than one location. Ongoing training and support for infection control regarding the use of PPE are needed. Testing of all residents and staff must be ongoing in long-term care homes, and completed in retirement homes and congregate care facilities (and shelters). Testing, tracking and isolating people who test positive is shown to have stopped the spread of COVID-19 in other countries. It must happen here. Access to PPE using the precautionary principle must be implemented in long-term care, hospitals, home care and across the health care system as soon as possible.<\/li>\n<li><u>Testing, contact tracing and isolation must be improved using our province\u2019s full public capacity<\/u>. Public hospital laboratories that are not currently doing COVID-19 testing and have unused capacity should be ramping up testing. We need a clear honest plan from the provincial government that assesses our <u>full<\/u> capacity to test (including all the public hospitals, not just those that are currently testing) and immediately\u00a0 ramp up to our province\u2019s real full capacity the testing, tracking and isolating to stop the spread of COVID-19. There must be a coherent plan and immediate action to get the supply or develop it for testing kits, swabs and reagents, and transparency about what is happening with this.<\/li>\n<li><u>Transfers to hospitals<\/u>. Where there are long-term care homes in crisis without sufficient staff to provide proper palliative and end-of-life care, as well as being unable to address the general care requirements of the residents, residents should be considered for transfer to public hospitals, which are not in crisis, for safe and proper care, subject to their right to consent.<\/li>\n<li><u>Bring in family caregivers and volunteer nurses as soon as possible:<\/u> As soon as testing\/contact tracing capacity and PPE supply are stabilized enough to do so, and as soon as training in infection control can be properly conducted, primary family caregivers need to be able to be involved as partners in their families\u2019 care. The pool of nurses that the RNAO has recruited to help should be utilized if they have not already been.<\/li>\n<li><u>Institute a minimum care standard in long-term care<\/u>: There has been deep consensus for decades that the rising acuity (complexity and severity of the care needs) of long-term care residents requires more care. This cannot be left to operators to do on their own, and resources &#8212; both financial and human &#8212; need to be provided to support this. There cannot be further delay in beginning to move to a 4-hour average minimum care level for residents in long-term care to protect their safety and the safety of staff.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Premier, we are also deeply concerned about our research finding that the death rates in for-profit homes are significantly higher than in non-profit homes. It is imperative that your government halt any expansion of for-profit long-term care. We will follow up with your office regarding these issues and look forward to your response.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Cordially,<\/p>\n<p>Natalie Mehra\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Ross Sutherland<\/p>\n<p>Executive Director\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Chairperson<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>Please see the following list of more than 200 organizations representing almost 2,000,000 Ontarians that have signed onto this letter in support in the following pages.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>The following organizations representing almost 2,000,000 Ontarians have signed onto this letter in support: <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Action Not Words<\/p>\n<p>Advancement of Women Halton<\/p>\n<p>Advocacy Centre for the Elderly (ACE)<\/p>\n<p>ARCH Disability Law Centre<\/p>\n<p>Amnesty\u00a0International Groups as follows:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Amnesty\u00a0International Group 9 (Kitchener-Waterloo)<\/li>\n<li>Amnesty International Group 125 Kingston<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Antler River Watershed Social Justice Network<\/p>\n<p>Bowmanville Nurses Association<\/p>\n<p>Canadian Association of Retired Persons (CARP)\u2013 Essex Chapter<\/p>\n<p>Canadian Federation of University Women (CFUW) chapters as follows:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>CFUW Brantford<\/li>\n<li>CFUW Stratford<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Canadian Health Coalition<\/p>\n<p>Canadian Office and Professional Employees Union (COPE) Ontario and locals as follows:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>COPE\u00a0l. 96<\/li>\n<li>COPE l. 468<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Canadians Against for Profit Care and Support Group for the Elderly<\/p>\n<p>Canadian Union of Public Employees Ontario (CUPE Ontario) and locals as follows:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>CUPE Retirees&#8217; Association<\/li>\n<li>CUPE l. 57 Guelph General Hospital<\/li>\n<li>CUPE l. 87<\/li>\n<li>CUPE l. 786<\/li>\n<li>CUPE Council (Niagara Region)<\/li>\n<li>CUPE l. 2225<\/li>\n<li>CUPE l. 4207<\/li>\n<li>CUPE l. 6364<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Canadian Union of Postal Workers &#8211; Ontario, Toronto and Central Regions<\/p>\n<p>Care Watch Ontario<\/p>\n<p>Child Care Now (Ottawa)<\/p>\n<p>Citizens United for a Sustainable Planet<\/p>\n<p>Committee on Monetary and Economic Reform (COMER) Kingston<\/p>\n<p>Community Elder Abuse Prevention Committee of Thunder Bay<\/p>\n<p>Concerned Friends of Ontario Citizens in Care Facilities<\/p>\n<p>Congress of Union Retirees of Canada (CURC) and chapters as follows:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>CURC Hamilton Burlington Oakville<\/li>\n<li>CURC Sarnia Council<\/li>\n<li>CURC South Central Ontario Branch<\/li>\n<li>CURC Thunder Bay<\/li>\n<li>CURC Toronto and York Region Council<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Council of Canadians and chapters as follows:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Council of Canadians \u2013 Guelph Chapter<\/li>\n<li>Council of Canadians \u2013 Hamilton Chapter<\/li>\n<li>Council of Canadians \u2013 Kitchener Waterloo Chapter<\/li>\n<li>Council of Canadians \u2013 London Chapter<\/li>\n<li>Council of Canadians \u2013 Windsor Essex Chapter<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Council on Monetary and Economic Reform (COMER) Kingston<\/p>\n<p>Decent Work and Health Network<\/p>\n<p>Downsview Community Legal Services<\/p>\n<p>Elementary Teachers\u2019 Federation of Ontario (ETFO)<\/p>\n<p>Empowerment Council<\/p>\n<p>Family Councils as follows:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Algoma Family Council Coalition<\/li>\n<li>Cedarvale Lodge Retirement Community, Keswick<\/li>\n<li>Champlain Region Family Council Network<\/li>\n<li>Clarion Nursing Home Family Council<\/li>\n<li>Family Councils Collaborative Alliance (FCCA)<\/li>\n<li>Family Council for the Henley House<\/li>\n<li>Family Council McGarrell Place<\/li>\n<li>Family Councils of Region 4 Advocacy Committee<\/li>\n<li>Fieldstone Commons Family Council<\/li>\n<li>Guildwood Extendicare Family Council<\/li>\n<li>Grand Family Council of Greater Sudbury (GFCGS)<\/li>\n<li>Idlewyld Manor Family Council<\/li>\n<li>Iler Family Council<\/li>\n<li>John Noble Home, Brantford<\/li>\n<li>Linhaven Family Council, St Catharines<\/li>\n<li>Macassa Lodge, Hamilton<\/li>\n<li>Northeast Family Councils Network (NEFCN)<\/li>\n<li>Park Lane Terrace Nursing Home<\/li>\n<li>Shepherd Lodge Family Council<\/li>\n<li>Shalom Village<\/li>\n<li>Peter\u2019s Residence at Chedoke Family Council<\/li>\n<li>Village of Humber Heights<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Free Transit Ottawa<\/p>\n<p>Friends of Kingston Inner Harbour<\/p>\n<p>Guelph Wellington Coalition for Social Justice<\/p>\n<p>Hamilton Community Legal Clinic<\/p>\n<p>Health Providers Against Poverty<\/p>\n<p>Horseshoe Falls Regional Council, The United Church of Canada<\/p>\n<p>Horton Street Seniors Centre Advisory Committee<\/p>\n<p>Image Promotions Inc.<\/p>\n<p>Indo Canadian Workers Association<\/p>\n<p>Interfaith Social Assistance Reform Coalition (ISARC)<\/p>\n<p>International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAMAW)<\/p>\n<p>International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) l. 636<\/p>\n<p>Just Voices- Ottawa Community Choir<\/p>\n<p>Kingston Faith and Justice Coalition<\/p>\n<p>Kiwanis Club of Ingersoll<\/p>\n<p>Latinx, Afro-Latin-America, Abya Yala Education Network (LAEN)<\/p>\n<p>Latin American Canadian Solidarity Association<\/p>\n<p>London Injured Workers Group<\/p>\n<p>Making Waves Windsor Essex Pelee Island<\/p>\n<p>Municipal Retirees Organization of Ontario (MROO)<\/p>\n<p>National Pensioners Federation<\/p>\n<p>Neighbourhood Legal Services London and Middlesex<\/p>\n<p>Network of Women with Disabilities (NOW)<\/p>\n<p>Niagara Poverty Reduction Network<\/p>\n<p>Noor Cultural Centre<\/p>\n<p>Northumberland Coalition for Social Justice<\/p>\n<p>Nurse On Board Canada Inc.<\/p>\n<p>OHIP for All<\/p>\n<p>Older Women\u2019s Network (OWN)<\/p>\n<p>Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU)<\/p>\n<p>Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) Action Coalition<\/p>\n<p>Ontario Health Coalition (OHC) and chapters as follows:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Chatham-Kent Health Coalition<\/li>\n<li>Guelph Wellington Health Coalition<\/li>\n<li>Hamilton Health Coalition<\/li>\n<li>Kawartha Lakes Health Coalition<\/li>\n<li>Kingston Health Coalition<\/li>\n<li>London Health Coalition<\/li>\n<li>Niagara Health Coalition<\/li>\n<li>Northumberland Health Coalition<\/li>\n<li>Ottawa Health Coalition<\/li>\n<li>Peel Health Coalition<\/li>\n<li>Peterborough Health Coalition<\/li>\n<li>Sarnia Lambton Health Coalition<\/li>\n<li>Sudbury Health Coalition<\/li>\n<li>Thunder Bay Health Coalition<\/li>\n<li>Toronto Health Coalition<\/li>\n<li>University of Toronto Health Coalition<\/li>\n<li>Wallaceburg-Walpole Island Health Coalition<\/li>\n<li>Waterloo Region Health Coalition<\/li>\n<li>Windsor Health Coalition<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) and affiliates as follows:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Kingston and District Labour Council<\/li>\n<li>Lindsay and District Labour Council<\/li>\n<li>London and District Labour Council<\/li>\n<li>Niagara Regional Labour Council<\/li>\n<li>Northumberland Labour Council<\/li>\n<li>Ottawa Labour Council<\/li>\n<li>Peel Regional Labour Council<\/li>\n<li>Peterborough and District Labour Council<\/li>\n<li>Quinte Labour Council<\/li>\n<li>Renfrew and District Labour Council<\/li>\n<li>Thunder Bay &amp; District Labour Council<\/li>\n<li>Waterloo Region Labour Council<\/li>\n<li>Windsor and District Labour Council<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Ontario Federation of Union Retirees (OFUR)<\/p>\n<p>Ontario Medical Association (OMA) Section of General and Family Medicine<\/p>\n<p>Ontario Network of Injured Workers Groups<\/p>\n<p>Ontario Nurses\u2019 Association and locals as follows:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>ONA l. 75<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) Region 4 Retirees Division<\/p>\n<p>Ontario Secondary School Teacher\u2019s Federation and chapters as follows:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>OSSTF \u2013 Association of Retired Members (ARM) Thames Valley (Chapter 11)<\/li>\n<li>OSSTF ARM Toronto (Chapter 12)<\/li>\n<li>OSSTF ARM Durham and York (Chapter 13\/16)<\/li>\n<li>OSSTF ARM Niagara (Chapter 22)<\/li>\n<li>OSSTF ARM Kitchener Waterloo (Chapter 24)<\/li>\n<li>OSSTF ARM Limestone, Ottawa-Carleton, Renfrew, Upper Canada (Chapter 25)<\/li>\n<li>OSSTF ARM Waterloo (Chapter 74)<\/li>\n<li>OSSTF ARM Sudbury &amp; Manitoulin (District 3)<\/li>\n<li>OSSTF Limestone District 27, Teachers\u2019 Bargaining Unit<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Ontario Society of Senior Citizens Organizations (OSSCO)<\/p>\n<p>Oxford Coalition for Social Justice<\/p>\n<p>Oxford County Voices for Education<\/p>\n<p>Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) Ontario region and chapter as follows:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>PSAC- National Capital Region<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Peel Poverty Action Group<\/p>\n<p>POOF Protecting ODSP OW Funding<\/p>\n<p>Poverty Free Thunder Bay<\/p>\n<p>Raging Grannies chapters as follows:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Raging Grannies Toronto<\/li>\n<li>Raging Grannies Ottawa<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Ralph Thornton Community Centre<\/p>\n<p>Retired Teachers of Ontario (RTO\/ERO) District 14 Niagara<\/p>\n<p>Royal York Road United Church (RYRUC)<\/p>\n<p>Seniors\u2019 Health Advisory Committee Sault Ste. Marie and Algoma District<\/p>\n<p>Senior Pride Network Toronto<\/p>\n<p>Shelter and Housing Justice Network<\/p>\n<p>Socialist Project<\/p>\n<p>Social Justice &amp; Advocacy Committee of the Anglican Diocese of Toronto<\/p>\n<p>Social Justice Network of Antler River Watershed Region<\/p>\n<p>Social Justice Network of the Ontario Regional Councils (SJNOR)<\/p>\n<p>Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, Ontario Region<\/p>\n<p>St. Athanasius Anglican Church Orillia<\/p>\n<p>St Paul\u2019s United Church, Midland<\/p>\n<p>Street Nurses Network<\/p>\n<p>The Committee of Progressive Pakistani-Canadians<\/p>\n<p>The Ministry for Social Justice, Peace, and Creation Care of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Toronto<\/p>\n<p>Thunder Bay and District Injured Workers\u2019 Support Group<\/p>\n<p>Toronto Board of Rabbis<\/p>\n<p>Trillium United Church Social Concerns and Outreach Team<\/p>\n<p>Unifor and local unions as follows:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Kitchener, Waterloo, Brantford, Cambridge, and Guelph Unifor Retired Workers Area Council<\/li>\n<li>Unifor l. 27<\/li>\n<li>Unifor l. 195<\/li>\n<li>Unifor l. 199 Retiree Chapter<\/li>\n<li>Unifor Local 200 Retirees&#8217; Chapter<\/li>\n<li>Unifor l. 222<\/li>\n<li>Unifor l. 222 Retired Workers\u2019 Chapter<\/li>\n<li>Unifor l. 240<\/li>\n<li>Unifor l. 302<\/li>\n<li>Unifor l. 673 Retirees<\/li>\n<li>Unifor l. 1325 Retirees<\/li>\n<li>Unifor l. 1451 Retirees<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>United Food &amp; Commercial Workers (UFCW) locals as follows:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>UFCW l. 175 &amp; 633<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>United Steelworkers (USW) District 6 and chapters as follows:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>USW Toronto Council<\/li>\n<li>United Steelworkers l. 5481<\/li>\n<li>United Steelworkers l. unit lodge 650<\/li>\n<li>Northwestern Ontario Steelworkers Area Council<\/li>\n<li>Steelworkers Organization of Active Retirees (SOAR) Chapter 80<\/li>\n<li>SOAR Chapter 16-6<\/li>\n<li>SOAR Chapter 6-17 Sault Ste Marie<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Voice of the Elderly<\/p>\n<p>Waterloo Regional Council of Union Retirees (WRCUR)<\/p>\n<p>Windsor Workers&#8217; Education Centre<\/p>\n<p>Worker\u2019s Action Centre<\/p>\n<p>Workers United Canada Council<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/final-open-letter-to-doug-ford-re-ltc-commission-web-vrsn1-6.pdf\"><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\">Click here for printable version of open letter<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(Updated: June 30, 2020) The Ontario Health Coalition sent an open letter to Premier Doug Ford signed by family councils, health professionals, social organizations, cultural organizations, seniors\u2019 and retirees\u2019 groups, health coalitions, legal clinics, and many others who collectively represent almost 2 million Ontarians. The letter is below. If your organization wants to sign on [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,14,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12613","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-covid-19","category-long-term-care-chronic-care","category-whats-new"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>OPEN LETTER: Open Letter to Doug Ford signed by over 200 organizations &amp; almost 2 million Ontarians - LTC commission &amp; immediate measures - Ontario Health Coalition<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"(Updated: June 30, 2020) The Ontario Health Coalition sent an open letter to Premier Doug Ford signed by family councils, health professionals, social\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/open-letter-open-letter-to-doug-ford-signed-by-100-orgs-1-5-million-ontarians-ltc-commission-immediate-measures\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"OPEN LETTER: Open Letter to Doug Ford signed by over 200 organizations &amp; 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