It could be a couple more weeks before the next shipment of COVID-19 vaccines reaches our area.
Medical Officer of Health for the Northwestern Health Unit Doctor Kit Young Hoon says initially they’ll be looking to offer vaccines to anyone who received the first dose of the vaccine last month.
“We will be focusing on second doses for those in the area who have already received their first dose,” says Doctor Young Hoon, “Vaccinating staff and essential visitors in long term care homes, elder residents, and high-priority health care workers.”
She explains they expect the shipment to arrive March 15th.
“We expect that our regions roll-out will be a few weeks behind as has been the case with other populations like long-term care home residents and staff.”
Doctor Young Hoon adds they do plan to set up mass vaccination clinics in each of the communities they serve.
A provincial election isn’t expected for another year and a half, but that’s not stopping the NDP from getting ready.
Leader Andrea Horwath released the first plank in its platform and its about long-term care.
Horwath says if they are elected, the NDP would get rid of private companies running long-term care homes.
“We’re gonna not renew some licenses as we go through the process, we are going to acquire some of those homes, we’re also going to be building more homes,” Horwath explains.
Horwath adds that NDP would also strengthen regulations in long-term care homes and do more inspections.
The provincial government is being asked to change the funding formula for long-term care services.
Dryden Mayor Greg Wilson says the current levy formula doesn’t include people living in unincorporated areas.
Wilson says their dilemma in the north is that they have a large rural population that eventually depends on long-term health care in urban centres.
As a result Wilson says northern Ontario municipalities are paying more for long-term care services compared to southern Ontario communities.
He stresses this isn’t a new problem.
“Our administrator from the District of Kenora Home for the Aged, Kevin Queen, he’s been trying to get the attention of the province since I think as far back as 2007. So we’re just hoping our new current government will finally amend the funding formula to reflect the realities of northern and rural Ontario.”
He recently raised the issue with Minister of Long-Term Care Merrilee Fullerton during a virtual meeting.
Wilson says she acknowledged the concern and promised to continue the dialogue.
Three unions representing workers in Ontario’s long-term care homes are calling for reforms.
CUPE, Unifor and the Service Employees International Union are part of the Care not Profits campaign that hopes to generate public support for reforms.
They want money earned by for-profit companies to be reinvested to impact the care of residents in homes.
The unions say that in the past three months, three of the largest long-term care businesses combined paid shareholders over $58-million in dividends.
“We must learn from this crisis, and that starts with Doug Ford taking action to put people before profits,” says Jerry Dias, National President of Unifor.
CUPE Ontario’s Candace Rennick says for-profit care needs to end now, and the province should fully fund public homes.
“The crisis at the bedside has been ignored for far too long,” Rennick says. “The care conditions of residents and the working conditions of their caregivers are simply unforgivable.”
Premier Doug Ford is making it very clear that he welcomes an investigation by Ontario’s ombudsman into long-term care homes during COVID-19.
Paul Dube says a military report into the conditions at five homes in southern Ontario “painted a stunning portrait of the situation in long-term care during this crisis.”
Dube says he will investigate whether the government oversight has been adequate to ensure the safety of residents and staff.
The province called in military assistance for those impacted facilities in April.
Members said they observed cockroach infestations, aggressive feeding that caused choking, bleeding infections, and residents crying for help for hours.
Ford says “I need answers. I want answers. We need to get this fixed and we are going to get this fixed. Our eyes are all over this and to be very frank everyone in Ontario, their eyes are all over it.”
Ford notes the system has been plagued by problems for decades.
He points out he is open to investigations by the ombudsman, auditor general, the coroner and even the police.
Doug Ford says he’s heartbroken by a report on conditions in five long-term care homes dealing with COVID-19 outbreaks.
The Premier calls the documents “gut-wrenching” and says the Chief Coroner will be investigating the conditions in these facilities.
The report by the Canadian Armed Forces was made public this week. It details “serious concerns” around infection prevention, safety, staffing and level of care. The report also indicates the homes are beginning to stabilize since the military was called in on April 22nd.
The homes are Orchard Villa in Pickering, Altamount Care Community in Scarborough, Eatonville Care Centre in Etobicoke, Hawthorne Place in North York and Holland Christian Homes’ Grace Manor in Brampton.
The report says residents with COVID-19 at the Eatonville Care Centre were “allowed to wander” and possibly spread the disease to others. Military at the same home said staff are afraid to use supplies like gowns and gloves “because they cost money.”
Ford says he takes “full accountability” for the long-term care system, but maintains he has not failed seniors in the province in light of these conditions.
The Army has been asked to continue assisting in these five long-term care homes for another 30 days.
Merrilee Fullerton, Minister of Long-Term Care says one death in a long-term care home has been referred to Ontario’s Chief Coroner for investigation.
The government recently announced it will be launching an independent commission into Ontario’s long-term care system beginning in September.
Out of 626 long-term care homes in Ontario, there are currently 150 experiencing an outbreak, which is down from a high of 190.
Princess Court in Dryden has found a way to help keep residents safe and busy while keeping them connected to family, loved ones and the community.
Staff member Joy Trenholm says they have created three separate “Waving Trees”, with seniors painting waving hands on the windows at the front of the building.
Trenholm says seniors had a blast working on the project, noting it allows them to say hi to motorists and pedestrians who are passing bye the facility.
She says other measures to help keep seniors active and engaged is virtual Facetime meetings and bringing people down to the ground level to wave through the window.
Trenholm stresses the management deserves nothing but credit for how quickly they acted on COVID-19 before anyone else did.
The home was closed to all visitors on March 13th before it was mandated by the province and staff were immediately screened for the virus.
Home Administrator Pat Berrey says his team is second to none.
“They are an amazing team. They have been working extremely hard to try and keep our residents and staff safe during this unprecedented time.”
Berrey adds “Thank all of our staff for their commitment, their courage, their dedication to serving our residents and working through this pandemic. I must say they have been fantastic and we really do appreciate our staff.”
He notes the “Waving Hand” initiative was a wonderful idea that was initiated and carried out by workers at the facility.
“The residents love to be engaged in doing things throughout the home. This is just another example of the creative abilities of our staff.”
Berrey stresses they continue to explore ways to protect residents and practice physical distancing.
He points out in a letter sent to families “We are doing our best to protect the residents under our care. We have re-aligned our Activation staff to spend more one on one time with the residents and provide physically distanced small group activities on the units. We understand that the residents are anxious and feeling somewhat isolated throughout this difficult time.”
The provincial government isn’t committing to a public inquiry into COVID-19 outbreaks in long-term care homes.
However, Premier Doug Ford admits the system is broken.
“We’re going to do a complete review of long-term care. As we move forward we are improving the systems as we go but we have a lot of improvements still to do.”
Ford notes “We inherited quite a mess and I’m not going to blame the previous government. This has been going on for decades.”
He stresses they will need support from the opposition parties as well as proper funding from the Federal government.
Ford says they’ve learned some valuable lessons during the pandemic.
He states 2% of the people in long-term care have been infected by the virus and that’s 2% too many.
Most of the positive cases and deaths have been in southern Ontario.
The Northwestern Health Unit catchment area has had no cases, while one case was confirmed at a Thunder Bay long-term care home earlier this month.
The Premier was visibly upset discussing Ottawa’s decision to ban window visits of family members staying in long term care homes.
Ford says the ban is ridiculous and unfair to families who are separated during the pandemic.
“To not be allowed to go and look at your loved ones through a window, or put your hand or blow a kiss to your loved one up to a window, they need to rethink this. Go visit your loved ones that’s my opinion, go see them and hopefully this isn’t the last time you see them,” Ford said.
The Premier is calling on the City of Ottawa to rethink their ban.
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