(June 14, 2016)<\/p>\n
By: Alison Sandor, 580 CFRA<\/p>\n
An odd sight Tuesday morning in Orleans, as a giant rocking chair was set up on the grass near the Bruyere long term care facility on Hiawartha Park.<\/p>\n
The Ontario Health Coalition is touring the province with the rocker to raise awareness about care standards at long term care homes.<\/p>\n
Tom Carrothers, who represents the family and friends of nursing home residents say the facilities have become like factories.<\/p>\n
“What we see when we’re looking at our family and our friends being looked after is they are institutionalized,” he said. “They are not socialized. They are operating as if they are on an assembly line, in my opinion. They have to get up. They have to get fed. They have to get toileted, etc. almost as if it were an assembly line.”<\/p>\n
“It’s not what we want for our loved ones and our family,” he added. “We want more touch time. We want more time for somebody to hold our loved ones and care for them, not just their physical needs, but their emotional needs, their social needs.”<\/p>\n
Joanne Waddell works at a long term care facility in Ottawa and said they’re forced to do so much documentation, it’s cutting into their time with residents.<\/p>\n
“You don’t even want to look at the resident’s faces because you know you don’t have time to stop because you have to keep going and keep going and keep going,” she said. “You have all these things going on.”<\/p>\n
The group is collecting signatures on postcards as they travel, to symbolize the approximately 20,000 people waiting for long-term care placements.<\/p>\n
They’re calling on the province to set minimum care standards of four hours for hands on care per patient per day and to reduce wait times.<\/p>\n