Seniors cannot wait any longer for better care
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This article was published 25/09/2020 (980 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
The COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare the weak spots in Canada’s social safety net and in the institutions we all rely on. Tragically, the people most vulnerable to the devastating consequences of that weakness are our seniors.
Seniors living in Canada’s long-term care sector were hit hardest with more than 840 outbreaks reported in LTC facilities and retirement homes up to May 25. There have been more since.
Those outbreaks accounted for more than 80 per cent of all COVID-19 deaths in the country, according to the Canadian Institute for Health Information. On average, deaths in LTC facilities accounted for only 42 per cent of COVID-related deaths in OECD countries. Canada is standing out but for the wrong reason.
Even before the pandemic, our LTC system was under strain. Demand is already greater than capacity. To keep up with the growing demand we will have to double the number of LTC beds by 2035.
In Manitoba, short-term thinking by the provincial government has compounded the problem. Park Manor is one of the few remaining LTC facilities in Winnipeg where some residents live four to a room.
At a time when Manitoba should have been building more state-of-the-art LTC beds, the provincial government mothballed a shovel-ready expansion of Park Manor instead of investing in the facilities we need to care for our elders safely.
We can, and we must, do a better job of long-term care across the country. Before the pandemic and since, the NDP has advocated in Ottawa for meaningful federal investment in long-term care.
The NDP has also been the only party in the House of Commons to stand up to the privatization agenda that has led to more and more corporate-led seniors care.
While Liberals and Conservatives praise the so-called “innovation” of for-profit care, a July 2020 study in the Canadian Medical Association journal tells a different story.
It found:
• Higher rates of infection and death in for-profit LTC facilities;
• Outbreaks were more serious in LTC facilities owned by chains;
• For-profit homes are less likely to meet current standards;
• For-profit homes are more likely to have lower staffing levels.
The time to fix long-term care in Canada is long past due. We owe it to Canada’s seniors to get it right.
To get the job done in Manitoba we need a provincial government that believes in public services and a government in Ottawa that is prepared to invest in the not-for-profit solutions that get results.
Daniel Blaikie
Elmwood-Transcona constituency report
Daniel Blaikie is the NDP MP for Elmwood-Transcona.