![\"Ontario](\"https:\/\/img.huffingtonpost.com\/asset\/5fe387502600006f060c5ee1.jpeg?cache=WGoqOWgq5V&ops=scalefit_630_noupscale\")
<\/p>\n(December 23, 2020)<\/p>\n
By: Emma Paling, HuffPost<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Ontario Premier Doug Ford fights back tears as he answers question about a disturbing report from the Canadian military regarding five Ontario long-term-care homes in Toronto on May 26, 2020.<\/p>\n
TORONTO \u2014 Seven months have passed since Ontario Premier\u00a0Doug Ford<\/a>\u00a0released a \u201cheartbreaking \u2026 horrific\u201d report by soldiers sent into long-term care homes with out-of-control outbreaks of\u00a0COVID-19<\/a>.<\/p>\n The\u00a0report described shocking conditions<\/a>\u00a0in five homes: residents not being fed, bathed, or given their medication; people being force fed until they choked; homes infested with flies and cockroaches; vital supplies locked away from workers; and no adherence to basic infection prevention protocol like hand washing and isolating people who had COVID-19.<\/p>\n \u201cI will move heaven and earth to do what is right, to help these people, to help those who need us,\u201d Ford vowed at his\u00a0press briefing that day<\/a>, May 26. \u201cThat is our job.\u201d<\/p>\n One reporter was blunt with him.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n – Premier Doug Ford<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not that hard to figure out what these long-standing systemic problems are in\u00a0long-term care<\/a>,\u201d Cynthia Mulligan of CityNews said to Ford. \u201cThere are no standards. There aren\u2019t enough staff. They\u2019re underpaid. They\u2019re undervalued. They\u2019re undertrained. And they\u2019re only given part-time hours.<\/p>\n \u201cHow quickly do you pledge to turn that around? You don\u2019t need an inquiry or a commission to tell you these things.\u201d<\/p>\n Ford responded, \u201cI agree 100 per cent.\u201d He promised \u201cimmediate action,\u201d noting his government had already referred one incident from the military\u2019s report to the provincial coroner for investigation: the\u00a0choking death of a resident<\/a>\u00a0who had been fed lying down.<\/p>\n But since that day, anger about Ford\u2019s handling of COVID-19 in long-term care has snowballed. Of the\u00a04,188 lives lost<\/a>\u00a0to COVID-19 in Ontario as of late December, 2,537 lived in long-term care. Some advocates and family members now look back on that press conference with disdain, describing the premier\u2019s reaction as \u201ccrocodile tears.\u201d<\/p>\n The premier\u2019s office did not respond to a request for comment. Neither did a spokesperson for Minister of Long-Term Care\u00a0Merrilee Fullerton<\/a>.<\/p>\n Ford did strike a commission to look into how and why the virus spread so rapidly through nursing homes. The commission hasn\u2019t yet released its final report, but it has released interim reports and\u00a0called out Ford\u2019s government<\/a>\u00a0for cutting comprehensive annual inspections of homes.<\/p>\n Fullerton has said in statements she appreciates the Commissioners\u2019 reports and the government is already working on some of the issues they\u2019ve raised.<\/p>\n Cathy Parkes,\u00a0whose father Paul died of COVID-19<\/a>\u00a0at one of the homes included in the military report, says Ford has failed to keep the promises he made in May.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I saw him crying, I had a moment of \u2018Oh, maybe he does get it,\u2019\u201d Parkes told HuffPost Canada. \u201cAnd then I realized not too long afterwards that it\u2019s crocodile tears. Because the actions don\u2019t follow the statements.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Cathy Parkes lost her father Paul, right, during the COVID-19 outbreak at Orchard Villa long-term care home in Pickering, Ont. Orchard Villa was one of the five homes included in a military report that Premier Doug Ford called “horrific.”<\/p>\n Parkes\u2019 life has been turned upside down since her father died on April 15. She says she was traumatized by the way he died, scared and alone, and has sought out therapy.<\/p>\n At the same time, she\u2019s taken on a public role as an advocate \u2014 appearing at press conferences with Ontario NDP Leader\u00a0Andrea Horwath<\/a>, hosting an event at Parliament Hill and meeting with MPs. She gave her first on-camera interview the day of her dad\u2019s burial.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been so let down by the provincial government that I\u2019ve actually switched my focus to federal,\u201d Parkes said.<\/p>\n She said all her efforts will go towards advocating for a national standard for long-term care homes, something Prime Minister\u00a0Justin Trudeau<\/a>\u00a0has\u00a0suggested he would support<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n – Cathy Parkes<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Any policies the Ford government is implementing will be too little, too late, Parkes said.<\/p>\n She noted that\u00a0the government\u2019s recent plan<\/a>\u00a0to hire 27,000 new full-time staff for long-term care isn\u2019t expected to be completed until 2024-25. Parkes said that lets down thousands of current residents and their families.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s kind of cold hearted.\u201d<\/p>\n The government has defended its response.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have invested over $750 million to protect residents, caregivers, and staff in long-term care homes during the pandemic, and we will continue to act on the Commissioners\u2019 recommendations to protect our most vulnerable,\u201d Fullerton said in a statement emailed to reporters Dec. 4.<\/p>\n Parkes is not alone. Many advocates and front-line workers say the government did next to nothing to prepare homes for the second wave of COVID-19.<\/p>\n Natalie Mehra, executive director of the Ontario Health Coalition, speaks to reporters at Queen’s Park in Toronto on Jan. 21, 2019.<\/p>\n Natalie Mehra, executive director of the non-partisan advocacy group Ontario Health Coalition (OHC), says she tried to count how many of Ontario\u2019s 626 care homes had \u201cterrible\u201d conditions this year comparable to those described in the military report.<\/p>\n \u201cI got to 100 and I had to stop,\u201d she told HuffPost at a virtual press conference.<\/p>\n Her group recently\u00a0released a survey<\/a>\u00a0from 88 staff members who work at homes dealing with major outbreaks of COVID-19. Only 33 per cent said they had adequate staff.<\/p>\n Respondents described \u201cextraordinary workloads\u201d and \u201cdangerously inadequate training,\u201d the survey said. Some said that they were too busy to bathe and groom residents properly; others said they were struggling to feed and hydrate residents or administer medication.<\/p>\n \u201cThe military report highlights unspeakable conditions. And frankly, those unspeakable conditions continue today,\u201d said Andy Savela, director of health care with Unifor, a union that represents long-term care workers, when the survey was released.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m furious. The families are furious,\u201d Mehra said. \u201cThey talk about Premier Ford and his crocodile tears \u2026 He acted like he cared and nothing substantive has happened.\u201d<\/p>\n Ontario Minister of Long Term Care Merrilee Fullerton listens to questions during the daily briefing at Queen’s Park in Toronto on May 28, 2020.<\/p>\n Fullerton has said the ministry is making sure homes with outbreaks of COVID-19 have enough staff. But frontline workers have\u00a0continued to contradict her<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0media continues to report<\/a>\u00a0on dangerously low staffing levels at homes where dozens are dying of the virus.<\/p>\n \u201cSince the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, the Ministry of Long-Term Care has worked directly alongside local public health units, hospitals, Canadian Red Cross, and all our health sector partners to support homes and ensure they have infection prevention and control measures in place, staffing and a good supply of PPE,\u201d Fullerton\u2019s spokesperson Krystle Caputo told HuffPost by email Dec. 14.<\/p>\n Public outrage is also directed at the minister.<\/p>\n The\u00a0Ontario NDP<\/a> first called for her to resign the day the military report came out.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n One seniors\u2019 advocacy group is now calling for her to be fired.<\/p>\n This is the first time the Canadian Association of Retired Persons (CARP) has called for a minister to be fired in its 36 years, chief policy officer Bill VanGorder wrote in an\u00a0op-ed for the Toronto Sun<\/a>.<\/p>\n CARP always tries to have productive relationships with the government, VanGorder told HuffPost. But this situation is so severe and the ministry\u2019s response so ineffective, the organization felt it had no choice but to call for Fullerton\u2019s firing, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThey keep making announcements of future plans, but no current action. Surely in the nine months since this began, we\u2019ve learned enough to make the changes that would at least help. But we\u2019re still hearing stories of what they\u2019re doing being absolutely inadequate.\u201d<\/p>\n Front-line workers reach out to CARP or to VanGorder when he\u2019s doing radio shows, he said, and say they still don\u2019t have the personal protective equipment (PPE) they need.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n – Bill VanGorder<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Fullerton\u2019s office has insisted that homes in outbreak have adequate PPE, even when confronted with\u00a0accounts from front-line workers<\/a>\u00a0who say the opposite.<\/p>\n VanGorder said it\u2019s horrible Fullerton is still supported by staff in the ministry and the premier.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m sure that he is personally concerned that this is happening,\u201d he said of Ford. \u201cBut it\u2019s his responsibility to make sure the people who work for him, the Minister and the departments, follow through and make changes that are going to be effective in the situation.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd that\u2019s not happening. So we really question his leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n\n“I will move heaven and earth to do what is right, to help these people, to help those who need us.”<\/h4>\n
\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/img.huffingtonpost.com\/asset\/5fe389ac260000d205a4f71a.jpeg?ops=scalefit_630_noupscale\")
<\/span><\/p>\nFRANK GUNN\/CANADIAN PRESS<\/span>A vigil is held for COVID-19 victims at Orchard Villa long-term care home in Pickering, Ont. on June 15, 2020.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n![\"Cathy](\"https:\/\/img.huffingtonpost.com\/asset\/5fe3893d260000e9060c5ee9.jpeg?ops=scalefit_630_noupscale\")
<\/span><\/figure>\n\n“It\u2019s kind of cold hearted.”<\/h4>\n
\n![\"Natalie](\"https:\/\/img.huffingtonpost.com\/asset\/5fe38ba22600000d05a4f71b.jpeg?ops=scalefit_630_noupscale\")
<\/p>\n![\"Ontario](\"https:\/\/img.huffingtonpost.com\/asset\/5fe38af6260000e9060c5eeb.jpeg?ops=scalefit_630_noupscale\")
<\/p>\n\n\n“They keep making announcements of future plans, but no current action.”<\/h4>\n
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