(May 28, 2021)<\/p>\n
By: Mike Baker, The Echo Haliburton County<\/p>\n
Bonnie Roe has had enough.<\/p>\n
As one of the founding members of the Haliburton-City of Kawartha Lakes Long-Term Care Coalition, Roe has spent the past 12 months advocating for local seniors and calling for much-needed improvements to both public and privately operated long-term care facilities in Ontario.<\/p>\n
Her movement has caught on. With dozens of Haliburton County residents joining the newly-formed Coalition in recent months, Roe has found that she isn\u2019t alone in feeling seniors presently living in long-term care homes are being neglected. There\u2019s a deep sense that these people are not being treated with the respect and dignity that they deserve.<\/p>\n
And for that, she blames one person \u2013 Ontario Premier Doug Ford.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, Roe will be one of approximately 4,000 individuals from across the province to participate in a virtual rally, to pack the public galleries of the Ontario Legislature during Question Period and, once again, call on Ford to take responsibility for the many issues that have plagued the long-term care industry for years and revamp the system.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can\u2019t fill the Legislature physically during the shutdown, but we can organize thousands of Ontarians to pack the public galleries virtually for Question Period,\u201d said Roe, who has assisted the Ontario Health Coalition [OHC] in setting up the protest. \u201cThe purpose is to engage the premier and his caucus in questions about the long-term care crisis before they go off on their summer break. They continue to not recognize that [the industry] is in crisis, that they are still failing seniors and their loved ones.\u201d<\/p>\n
Roe said the number of people OHC is planning to involve in Tuesday\u2019s event is symbolic, representing the 4,000 residents and staff from Ontario\u2019s long-term care homes that have died since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic last March.<\/p>\n
Opposition leaders \u2013 the NDP\u2019s Andrea Horwath and Liberal Steven Del Duca \u2013 have agreed to ask questions provided by the OHC during the session.<\/p>\n
Roe has been charged with organizing those questions. She said they will cover all aspects of the long-term care crisis, from concerns over staffing to a lack of regulated inspections. She plans to reference a recently-released report from Bonnie Lysyk, Ontario\u2019s auditor general, which states the long-term care sector and the ministry that oversees it were not prepared or equipped to handle the many issues brought on by the pandemic.<\/p>\n
\u201cSince the report came out, there has been nothing. There has been no change, there\u2019s been no suggestion that the Ford government is going to do anything. They say that the blame lies at their feet, even though they have since tried to blame previous governments,\u201d Roe said. \u201cIf they really cared about this\u2026 they would be putting forward a strong message. Instead, their messaging continues to be weak.\u201d<\/p>\n
Roe was especially critical of Merrilee Fullerton, Ontario\u2019s minister of long-term care.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe minister is nothing short of degrading when she talks about issues [surrounding long-term care]. It\u2019s almost as if seniors don\u2019t matter,\u201d Roe said. \u201cThis is her portfolio. These people should matter to her. She should be the advocate leading the charge for change. Instead she\u2019s hiding behind [the premier], failing to take action.\u201d<\/p>\n
While much of her time over the past couple of weeks has been spent organizing for this virtual rally, Roe said the local Coalition, of which she is the chair, is going strong. Its members have established a list of six core priorities it intends to chip away at over the coming months. Right at the top of the list is advocating for the inclusion of long-term care to the Canada Health Act, something Roe has previously said will completely change the way the sector operates.<\/p>\n
The group also wants to increase staffing to ensure all residents receive at least four hours of direct care per day; reinstate annual resident quality inspections of all long-term care homes, with consistency in enforcement when inspections yield rule violations; explore new models of care; change the culture of long-term care to be more attentive to the value of elders; and stop for-profit companies from opening new nursing homes in Ontario.<\/p>\n
An online petition titled \u2018Save our Seniors \u2013 Fix Long-Term Care\u2019 has garnered 3,232 signatures as of press time. Later this month, Roe plans to present that petition to Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock MPP Laurie Scott, and her federal counterpart Jamie Schmale, before delivering it to Ford and Fullerton.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis petition is our next step to promoting awareness about this issue. We\u2019re really proud of the response we\u2019ve had so far,\u201d Roe said. \u201cI had hoped we\u2019d be over this by now, that there would have been action taken, but unfortunately nothing is changing. We need to push the Ford government to take action. So, as a group we\u2019re forging ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n