(April 27, 2021)<\/p>\n
By: Sue-Ann Levy, Toronto Sun<\/p>\n
Janice Codeluppi couldn\u2019t hold back the tears as she spoke of the impact of personal support worker (PSW) shortages in her mom\u2019s GTA long-term care (LTC) home in the past year.<\/p>\n
She said in her mom\u2019s unit, there are 32 beds with only two PSWs at a time to look after 12-16 residents.<\/p>\n
As a result of the shortages, she said, her 87-year-old mom Joan Arbuckle fell in the night last December and \u201clay screaming for help for two hours.\u201d<\/p>\n
When she was taken to hospital for a broken pelvis, it was discovered she was \u201cseverely dehydrated,\u201d Codeluppi said, one of several speakers Tuesday during a virtual cross-Canada protest calling for national standards in LTC care.<\/p>\n
While in the hospital, Arbuckle caught COVID-19 and her daughter said she was told to \u201cstop her medications and let her die.\u201d<\/p>\n
She spent Christmas all alone, Codeluppi added.<\/p>\n
But she recovered and after seven weeks she was returned to the LTC home.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s afraid to be left alone, afraid of the numerous changes in her caregivers, afraid of the tests,\u201d she said, weeping.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a cry for help \u2026 a cry for change.\u201d<\/p>\n
Codeluppi said it\u2019s been a year since the first wave of COVID and residents continue to live in terrible conditions, waiting for help to be transferred from their wheelchairs to their beds, to be bathed, and to be fed.<\/p>\n
She said many have no radios, no televisions while they sit in their rooms for months at a time.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s so inhumane,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m not looking for an apology \u2026 I want change.\u201d<\/p>\n
Speaker after speaker with loved ones in Ontario LTC homes spoke about the staff shortages and the dire need for staff.<\/p>\n
Betty Yakimenko, whose mom is in an Ottawa LTC home, says she\u2019s come into the home to find her mom \u201csitting in her own waste for hours\u201d at a time.<\/p>\n
She said at a monthly town hall they\u2019re assured by the home that there is enough staff but she sees there\u2019s not.<\/p>\n
Vivian Stamatopoulos, an associate teaching professor at Ontario Tech University and an advocate for LTC residents, called the last year the \u201cworst mass casualty\u201d in Canada, one in which 3,917 LTC residents in Ontario have succumbed to the pandemic to date.<\/p>\n
Natalie Mehra, executive director of the Ontario Health Coalition, labelled \u201call the emoting, all the tears\u201d seen from the premier and other politicians in press conferences \u201cpolitical theatre.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said promises have never been fulfilled, comprehensive inspections of homes have been cancelled, and not one home has lost its license \u2013not even the very worst ones where dozens of residents died due to COVID, negligence, and malnutrition.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe plan was to vaccinate long-term residents and let it (the LTC issues) fall back into obscurity,\u201d she charged.<\/p>\n
She said staffing is even worse than before the pandemic and now the province wants to offload 1,500 hospital patients into homes where there are beds.<\/p>\n
Mehra insisted homes have gotten a \u201cwindfall\u201d \u2014 having been paid for empty beds but never having hired the requisite staff with that money.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s outrageous,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She argued the offload can\u2019t happen unless the staffing levels are brought up to par.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re extremely concerned,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
But Rob McMahon, a spokesperson for the long-term care ministry, said Ontario\u2019s health-care system is \u201cfacing unprecedented challenges\u201d that call for \u201cimmediate, collective action.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said the ministry issued a written call to action on April 11 to \u201cdo everything they can\u201d over the next two weeks to \u201csafely admit or readmit hospitalized patients\u201d waiting for a space in an LTC home.<\/p>\n
He insisted the off-loading will occur in homes that have the necessary staff to accommodate these moves \u201cwithout compromising the care\u201d of current residents.<\/p>\n