{"id":18873,"date":"2022-04-06T04:19:44","date_gmt":"2022-04-06T08:19:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/?p=18873"},"modified":"2022-04-18T04:29:38","modified_gmt":"2022-04-18T08:29:38","slug":"guelph-and-district-health-coalition-prepares-to-launch-fight-back-campaign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/guelph-and-district-health-coalition-prepares-to-launch-fight-back-campaign\/","title":{"rendered":"Guelph and District Health Coalition prepares to launch \u2018Fight back\u2019 campaign"},"content":{"rendered":"

(April 4, 2022)<\/p>\n

By: Joanne Shuttleworth, The Wellington Advertiser<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Guelph and District Health Coalition held an “emergency summit” on April 3 to talk about how health care is under threat of privatization in Ontario. Screenshot from Zoom meeting<\/em><\/p>\n

GUELPH \u2013 People in Wellington County, Guelph, Halton Hills and Perth County need to know that public health care is under attack, says Barb Hogg, co-chair of the Guelph and District Health Coalition.<\/p>\n

She adds the Ford government is slowly, quietly, and with stealth, privatizing health care.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to warn the community about the Ford government\u2019s plan to privatize health care,\u201d Hogg said as she opened the \u201cEmergency Public Healthcare Summit\u201d the coalition hosted online on April 3.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are doing it by stealth, which means sneaky and secretive,\u201d Hogg stated. \u201cForty percent of health care is already privatized.\u201d<\/p>\n

The local health coalition is launching a \u201cFight Back\u201d campaign along with the Ontario Health Coalition and its other members to make sure people understand what they say is at stake if the Conservatives are re-elected in the June provincial election.<\/p>\n

Natalie Mehra<\/a>, executive director of the Ontario Health Coalition<\/a>, reminded participants of the early days of the pandemic and how long-term care residents and staff were hardest hit by COVID-19.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were 4,500 people who died of COVID in long-term care and there are almost 50,000 staff and residents who got COVID,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou would have thought the government would have turned over every stone to set clear standards for long-term care homes, but that has not happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mehra said although there\u2019s been a lot of talk about the gaps in care and the fact long-term care homes were unprepared for the pandemic, there has been no accountability for long-term care homes and no changes to improve the situation.<\/p>\n

In fact, for-profit long-term care homes were recently awarded government funding to build more new beds and the health ministry is entertaining requests for 30-year licenses, she said.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u00a0Guelph and District Health Coalition has lawn signs for anyone interested. Screenshot from April 3 meeting.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Mehra noted hospitals are off-loading patients to long-term care homes, and nurses there are offloading patient care to PSWs, who offload care to care aids, who don\u2019t have the proper training to care for elderly people with complex medical needs.<\/p>\n

\u201cNothing has happened at all as a result of this exposure that egregious harm came to people,\u201d Mehra said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was happening way before the pandemic. Now that the curtain is drawn back, we can\u2019t ignore it.\u201d<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s not just nursing homes that are under threat, she said.<\/p>\n

Mehra listed other initiatives where the province has used private, for-profit health care providers to help deal with the pandemic, including:<\/p>\n