![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/ZZZZZZ-18-300x225.jpg\")
<\/p>\n(April 7, 2021)<\/p>\n
By: Todd Hambleton, The Intelligencer<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Alfred Borg, 83, during a lighter moment during an online media conference on Tuesday. <\/span><\/p>\n Photo on Tuesday, March 30, 2021, in Cornwall, Ont. <\/span>Todd Hambleton\/Cornwall Standard-Freeholder\/Postmedia Network<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n PHOTO BY TODD HAMBLETON<\/span>\u00a0\/Todd Hambleton\/Standard-Freeholder<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Long-term care facility residents, their families and advocates were recently demanding an immediate end to lock-in and isolation policies they say have created a desperate situation and a human rights issue.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re extremely concerned about what we\u2019re hearing right across Ontario,\u201d said Natalie Mehra, executive director of the Ontario Health Coalition, and one of the speakers during an online media conference on March 30.<\/p>\n \u201cMany (LTC) residents are desperate to get outside and enjoy the mild weather the rest of us have been, but they aren\u2019t allowed to go out. . . it cannot go on like this. People are suffering.\u201d<\/p>\n Mehra and others said they are calling on the government, on the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, to update the directives and put an end to what they say has been \u2013 for many \u2013 15 months of isolation, which has taken a devastating physical and mental toll.<\/p>\n All of this was said before the decision made later that same week to enter a third provincewide lockdown, along with the April 7 announcement of a new stay-at-home order and state of emergency.<\/p>\n Alfred Borg, an 83-year-old at a long-term-care facility in Newmarket, said the quality of life for him and fellow residents has greatly diminished in the past year, that he hasn\u2019t been outside in over 12 months \u2013 and hasn\u2019t been allowed to have a shower in over five months.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re not only restricted to the indoors, but to our (room). . . there\u2019s no opportunity for exercise, or to release our stress and frustration,\u201d Borg said. \u201cSo instead, we just sit in our room all day, wasting away.\u201d<\/p>\n Borg said he remains optimistic he can soon have a shower, do some gardening, and see his family\u2014 even though that final point would now have to wait until the state of emergency, lockdown, and stay-at-home order expire.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not enough just being alive,\u201d he said. \u201cWe need a better quality of life.\u201d<\/p>\n He said there\u2019s no outbreak in his facility, the residents have been vaccinated, but that heavy restrictions are still in place.<\/p>\n \u201cHow is this right?\u201d Borg said.\u00a0 \u201cThis is no longer about safety \u2013 it\u2019s about control.\u201d<\/p>\n Other speakers included Sandra Caleta, spokesperson for Voices of LTC and Advocates for Long-Term Care Reform in Ontario, who told the online audience the discriminating practices must end.<\/p>\n