Thousands of seniors died in Ontario\u2019s long-term care homes during the COVID pandemic. One daughter calls Doug Ford\u2019s actions since then \u201ca slap in the face.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\nThe last time Cathy Parkes saw her dad alive, it was through the second-floor window of a long-term care home where COVID was running rampant.<\/p>\n
It was April 2020. Parkes drove to the Orchard Villa long-term care (LTC) home in Pickering. She and other families had been locked out of the home. Staff told her that her 86-year-old dad had a fever, but it wasn\u2019t high enough to test him for COVID.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew something was very wrong,\u201d she remembers. \u201cIt got to the point where my dad wasn\u2019t answering his phone.\u201d<\/p>\n
As she watched from outside, \u201cthe PSW, who was not a regular, she lifted his bed up. He had a bed by the window, second floor, and I could see him and he was just comatose, just lying on his back unable to respond. So she held the phone to his ear. I told him that I loved him and that I would help him,\u201d Parkes says through tears.<\/p>\n
She tried to order an ambulance to take him to the hospital. Orchard Villa\u2019s management told her she wasn\u2019t allowed to. Her dad died the next day.<\/p>\n
Seventy-seven patients had died of COVID in Orchard Villa by June 2020.<\/p>\n
But the Canadian military\u2019s report about the conditions inside painted a picture that was worse than Parkes had imagined.<\/p>\n
Infestations of cockroaches and flies. So few staff that residents were left sitting in their own feces. One senior who choked to death while being fed while lying down.<\/p>\n
In a press conference after the shocking military report, Doug Ford appeared to cry. He committed to restoring the comprehensive annual inspections that had dwindled under his government. He promised a full investigation and possible criminal charges.<\/p>\n
The inspections haven\u2019t returned to their promised levels.<\/p>\n
And the investigation never happened. Instead, Ford has granted 30-year licences and massive expansions to the same for-profit long-term care chains responsible for the worst cases of abuse and neglect. That includes Southbridge, the owner of Orchard Villa.<\/p>\n
Ford also introduced Bill 218. It made it much harder to sue a nursing home to get monetary damages. Families now have to prove there was not just \u201cnegligence\u201d but \u201cgross negligence.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was just a slap in the face,\u201d says Parkes. \u201cIt was absolutely contradictory to the tears that he had cried in May. And I realized at that point, Doug Ford is not someone who keeps his word.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Ford government has issued a Ministerial Zoning Order to help Orchard Villa expand.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Parkes has been working with the Ontario Health Coalition on a court challenge to stop the nursing home\u2019s new licence.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s disgusting,\u201d Parkes says of the licence and expansion. \u201cIt\u2019s like a free pass and taxpayers\u2019 dollars to help pay for it. So essentially I\u2019m paying for what killed my father.\u201d<\/p>\n
Click here for the original article.\u00a0<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(February 21, 2025) By: Saima Desai, The Grind Thousands of seniors died in Ontario\u2019s long-term care homes during the COVID pandemic. One daughter calls Doug Ford\u2019s actions since then \u201ca slap in the face.\u201d The last time Cathy Parkes saw her dad alive, it was through the second-floor window of a long-term care home where […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ohc-in-the-news"],"yoast_head":"\n
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