Any improvements to long-term care home conditions must be permanent, says advocate
Close to half of all COVID-19 deaths in Canada are connected to long-term care facilities
Long before the coronavirus outbreak, advocates across Canada were blowing the whistle about the many dangers and vulnerabilities at long-term care homes — but no one really listened, says longtime advocate Jane Meadus.
"It's the poor cousin of the health-care system, and we really need to change that immediately," Meadus, a staff lawyer and the Institutional Advocate at the Advocacy Centre for the Elderly, told Day 6 host Brent Bambury.
Meadus welcomes the renewed attention being given to this segment of the population and this part of the health-care system.
But she warns that any positive changes coming to these facilities as a result of the pandemic should be made permanent — or we risk more death and more horrible conditions for residents and those caring for them.
The coronavirus has hit long-term care homes especially hard. Nearly half of Canada's COVID-19 deaths have been linked to these care homes, according to Canada's chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam.
This isn't surprising to Meadus, who argues it's the result of years of neglect and a willingness to view elderly people as less deserving of humane treatment.
Meadus says health officials should have seen the disaster that COVID-19 would bring to these homes.
"They should've known that things like long-term care homes, retirement homes, group homes, any of those places where we house vulnerable people in congregate living — were at high risk," she said.
