outbreak this past spring<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n\u201cShe was a good mother and a good lady,\u201d Thompson said.<\/p>\n
Wilson lived at ACH from 2016 to 2020, and Thompson visited every day to spend time with her. When the pandemic hit the facility, \u201cit was tough.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cJust looking through the window, it\u2019s not fun,\u201d she admitted, noting her mother had tested positive twice for the virus. \u201cShe didn\u2019t really suffer from COVID-19. I don\u2019t know what part of it killed her and if it was more the isolation that hurt her, but she was totally healthy before Christmas and she was not totally healthy when Mother\u2019s Day came around.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe gave it a good fight, but she wouldn\u2019t be gone now if it hadn\u2019t been for COVID,\u201d Thompson added.<\/p>\n
Thompson, who sits on the Almonte Country Haven Family Council, joined a group of a dozen fellow council members, long-term care workers and supporters at Almonte Old Town Hall Oct. 8 as part of a demonstration for a provincewide day of action. She said she was there to \u201cgive (Ontario Premier Doug) Ford a kick in the rear end.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fresh from a night shift, Amy Ayers, a personal support worker (PSW) at a local long-term care home, organized the Almonte effort, which included a car motorcade down Mill Street.<\/p>\n
\u201cI felt like we had to take the opportunity to get involved with this because we need to put the pressure on,\u201d she noted.<\/p>\n
Co-ordinated by the Ontario Health Coalition, the demonstrations, which also took place at Queen\u2019s Park in Toronto, as well as in Ottawa, Kingston and Peel, called for the Ford government to address deficiencies in the long-term care system, where there have been 1,900 deaths in eight months. That includes adding more staff, implementing a minimum of four hours of care per resident per day, as well as taking steps to put an end to for-profit facilities.<\/p>\n
While the province announced an increase in the hourly rate for long-term care PSWs by $3 on Oct. 1, the OHC says it\u2019s \u201cfar less than what is needed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no clear recruitment plan and they will not address the long-standing issues with lack of full-time work and poor conditions,\u201d stated an Oct. 6 press release. \u201cQuebec and British Columbia acted months ago and are doing more. We are calling for immediate action by the Ford government to recruit and train staff, improve pay and working conditions and provide full-time work.\u201d<\/p>\n
David Frisch, also a member of the ACH Family Council, said the for-profit long-term care homes simply don\u2019t work as \u201cprofit is the bottom line,\u201d not the staff or residents.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s (profit) is not what long-term care is about,\u201d he stressed, adding that increasing the standard care to four hours of hands-on care for each resident a day, will help those with varying abilities.<\/p>\n
Frisch said the provincial government has failed both staff and residents of long-term care. \u201cThe province has unfortunately come up short in a lot of ways, not just in the availability of testing for a second wave they knew would come but for the amount of staffing that\u2019s required to provide proper care.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ayers, who followed in her mother\u2019s footsteps, has been a PSW for three years, and felt it important to speak on behalf of her co-workers because \u201cwe need changes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you have a shortage of staff, you have a core care breakdown,\u201d she said, when speaking of concerns of her fellow PSWs \u201ccoming to work and being stressed out.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of people have anxiety on their drive into work because they know that staffing is short,\u201d Ayers continued.<\/p>\n
But equally important, Ayers said, is the care of the residents. \u201cThey deserve top-notch, five-star care.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re here today to be loud and proud,\u201d she remarked. \u201cI\u2019m here to show that it\u2019s OK as a PSW to come out, speak out and see there are tons of people behind us, in front of us and beside us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Click here for original article<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(October 10, 2020) By: Ashley Kulp, Carleton Place Almonte Canadian Gazette Karen Thompson remembers her mom Mae Wilson as a \u201ccrazy character.\u201d She lost her 93-year-old mom on Mother\u2019s Day. Wilson was one of 29 Almonte Country Haven (ACH) residents who died from COVID-19 during the long-term care home\u2019s\u00a0outbreak this past spring. \u201cShe was a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ohc-in-the-news"],"yoast_head":"\n
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