{"id":15832,"date":"2021-01-11T19:57:28","date_gmt":"2021-01-12T00:57:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/?p=15832"},"modified":"2021-01-14T20:02:55","modified_gmt":"2021-01-15T01:02:55","slug":"ndp-green-party-leaders-attend-toronto-rally-into-long-term-care-home-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/ndp-green-party-leaders-attend-toronto-rally-into-long-term-care-home-crisis\/","title":{"rendered":"NDP, Green Party leaders attend Toronto rally into long-term care home crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"

(January 10, 2021)<\/p>\n

By: Muriel Draaisma, CBC News<\/p>\n

Leaders of two federal political parties attended\u00a0a rally outside a Toronto long-term care home on Sunday.<\/p>\n

NDP\u00a0Leader Jagmeet Singh and\u00a0Green Party Leader Annamie Paul joined a crowd of demonstrators\u00a0outside\u00a0St. George Care Community, a for-profit facility operated\u00a0by Sienna Senior Living.<\/p>\n

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Both leaders called on the federal government to play a larger role in protecting long-term care residents in Ontario from COVID-19.<\/p>\n

Singh said\u00a0Ottawa\u00a0should be working with the provinces to increase the rollout of COVID-19\u00a0vaccines as the second wave of the pandemic continues.\u00a0An increase in the number of people vaccinated against the novel coronavirus\u00a0would help to prevent\u00a0long-term care home deaths, he said.<\/p>\n

“We’ve seen COVID-19 devastate seniors in our country. There’s no question about it. They have been disproportionately impacted and we have lost lives,” Singh said.<\/p>\n

“Profit has been killing seniors. We need to get profit out of long-term care.”<\/p>\n

Singh said he wants family members of long-term care home residents to know that what they and their relatives have experienced since the pandemic hit is completely unacceptable.<\/p>\n

“It is heartbreaking and it is wrong. What is happening is just inexcusable. There is no excuse. These are our loved ones. These are some of the most vulnerable people,” he said. “You do not deserve this to happen to your family. If your loved one is in a care centre, you shouldn’t have to worry about them or worry about horrible conditions.”<\/p>\n

Singh said there has been an “abject failure” of provincial leadership in Ontario\u00a0on the part of Premier Doug Ford\u00a0when it comes to long-term care residents.<\/p>\n

“Premier Ford is completely failing seniors,” he added.<\/p>\n

Paul’s father, Peter Paul, who was a resident at St. George Care Community, died in the spring after he developed an\u00a0infection. Annamie Paul alleges his death was due to neglect.<\/p>\n

“My dad didn’t die because of COVID-19\u00a0but because of the perfect storm of conditions that we had in the first wave and that we are seeing again in the second wave,” Paul told reporters.<\/p>\n

“I am quite emotional right now. I am so grateful to every single person who came here today. The perfect storm is that we have facilities that are understaffed already before the pandemic hit.”<\/p>\n

Paul made a plea on behalf of family member\u00a0who still have relatives in long-term care homes or who have lost relatives in facilities to COVID-19.<\/p>\n

“Please help. Please make sure that you follow the recommendations by our experts. They are clear, they are implementable and they would make a difference tomorrow if only there was the political will,” she said.<\/p>\n

“All that remains is the political will to get the vaccinations into long-term care facilities, to get the rapid testing into long-term facilities, to make sure that the families who are the eyes and ears of their loved ones in these facilities have safe access so they can make sure that their loved ones are being taken care of and to make sure there is the staffing and the respect for the women who do this hard, back-breaking, dangerous work.”<\/p>\n

According to Toronto’s University Health Network (UHN), which signed a voluntary management contract for St. George Care Community on Jan. 4, there are currently 29\u00a0active cases of COVID-19 among residents and 28 among staff at the facility. The home, which has 238 beds, has 140 residents, UHN says.<\/p>\n

The UHN said on Sunday that a\u00a0total of 17\u00a0residents have died in the latest outbreak. Fourteen of them had tested positive for\u00a0COVID-19 at the time of their deaths.<\/p>\n

At some point during the outbreak, UHN said,142\u00a0residents and 82 staff members have had COVID-19. Among those, 111\u00a0resident cases and 54 staff cases have been marked as resolved. The 54 staff members have returned to work.<\/p>\n

Improvements underway at home, hospital network says<\/h2>\n

UHN said it has been working\u00a0with Sienna Senior Living to improve staff, infection prevention and control, education on personal protective equipment, increased cleaning and environmental changes to the building.<\/p>\n

The hospital network has established daily incident management calls and made changes to cleaning, laundry, the air handling system\u00a0and the staffing ratios \u2014 all of which are working to control the spread of the virus.<\/p>\n

It said UHN’s\u00a0mobile vaccination team has visited the St. George home twice since Dec.\u00a031 to vaccinate staff and all residents who don’t have COVID-19. So far,\u00a0a total of 55 staff and 30 residents have been vaccinated.<\/p>\n

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