(November 4, 2017)<\/p>\n
By: Global News Staff<\/p>\n
In what is seen\u00a0as a victory for Ontario\u2019s seniors, Bill 33 passed its second reading this week.<\/p>\n
Introduced to the legislature at Queen\u2019s Park by NDP MPP France Gelinas, the private member\u2019s bill would see residents of the province\u2019s long-term care facilities receive four hours of hands-on care per day.<\/p>\n
Such a law has long been promoted by health-care advocates.<\/p>\n
Peterborough MPP Jeff Leal both spoke to and supported the bill when it appeared on the order paper Thursday.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany of us have loved ones, husbands, wives, grandfathers, grandmothers, just friends, that are residents of long-term care right across the province of Ontario and certainly we want to make sure with this bill, these folks get adequate care and adequate attention,\u201d said Leal.<\/p>\n
Roy Brady, with the Peterborough Health Care Coalition,\u00a0says the guarantee of four hours a day of care is a good start. He wants to make sure that the care stays in the hands of the right people in the long-term care facilities.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has to be on the floor, it has to be with the patients themselves, so it would be with nurses and support services, this has to happen and it will be up to the government and the nursing homes to make sure it happens.\u201d<\/p>\n
Long-term care personal support worker Andrea Legault says those four extra hours per resident will make a huge difference in their lives.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt means they we will be able to get to them when they ring their call bell, it means they\u2019re going to make it to the toilet when they need to get to the toilet instead of a half an hour later, it means that we\u2019re not going to be feeding three and four people at a time, it means they\u2019ll be eating a warm meal instead of a cold meal,\u201d said Legault.<\/p>\n
Having passed second reading, the bill now goes to the Standing Committee on General Government for further study. It\u2019s unknown when it will go to third reading where, if passed, it will become law.<\/p>\n