Continuing on from the earlier report:
Inclusion of "yahoo" is a reference to Doug Ford's comment regarding anti lock down/anti big brother protestors in Toronto. Dougie should consider carefully who he refers to as "yahoos" Given the fact that Doug Ford and his now deceased brother, former mayor of Toronto, Rob (crack cocaine user) have/had that yahoo (boorish, crass, or stupid ) vibe all along. In fact yahoo is kind in my opinion. Link “We have a bunch of yahoos out in front of Queen’s Park sitting there protesting, but the place isn’t open. They’re breaking the law and putting everybody in jeopardy,” Ford said"Let's talk about who did and continues to put everybody in jeopardy.
“So whatever we have done it has completely failed in terms of shielding.”
Here in Ontario, Canada "locking down" seniors was deadly. Extremely, so. That is a reality Doug (Yahoo) Ford needs to deal with. The government he leads failed entirely. Fell flat on it's face. And hasn't been able to get itself up off the floor. Save for calling others raising legitimate concerns nasty names. (Exactly like too many in the "alt media" ("The retards - well, typical Assholians") Mr Ford continues to feign concern for protecting seniors/vulnerable persons. Had senior and vulnerable persons actually been his priority Doug Ford would have been pro active rather then a reactiveDoug FordDoug Ford March 30/20, yup, 4 weeks ago
/https://www.thestar.com/content/dam/thestar/politics/provincial/2020/04/27/premier-doug-ford-to-unveil-template-for-re-opening-the-ontario-economy-on-monday/ford.jpg){kind=link}
‘We need to put an iron ring around our seniors and other vulnerable populations’ Ford
On April 15/20:Ford moves to fortify iron ring of protection around seniors' homes
April 27/20: Senior Deaths have continued to creep upwards in Ontario and Canada.
Link: As of Friday, 625 COVID-19 deaths had been reported in the province's nursing homes, a fatality count that represented nearly 80 percent of all COVID-19 deaths in Ontario, according to the provincial government.The latest: Daily Hive
According to the the ministry, there have been 150 outbreaks reported in long-term care homes with 671 resident deaths. As of April 26th the total province wide deaths attributed to Covid-19 sat at 892.
Which means more then 75 percent, close to 80 percent of Covid deaths have been in seniors homes. The pandemic has been one of chronic under funding, short staffing, lack of PPE and other institutional issues. Such as poor cleaning. Where was that iron ring, Doug? Was Doug referencing a ring of death being reinforced? If so, success! If not then Doug Ford's government fell down on the job.Doug Ford should and would have known:
- Why Ontario’s Long-Term Care Homes Were Short-Staffed Long Before Coronavirus
Inadequate staffing has been a chronic problem in Ontario’s long-term care homes, the CEO of the Ontario Long-Term Care Association Donna Duncan told HuffPost.“We had a critical shortage to begin with.”
Ninety per cent of the homes Duncan represents have a hard time recruiting staff, she said. She said she hopes the attention COVID-19 has brought to the sector will encourage the government to fix some long-standing issues. The majority of long-term care staff are employed part time, Duncan said, because funding is unpredictable and homes need the freedom to change workers’ hours if their budget changes. Stable, adequate funding would make the difference, she said.
The report is called Situation Critical and it looks at some of the major issues facing Ontario Long Term Care Facilities including staffing shortages, long wait times and violence amongst residents.
Bryan Smith with Oxford Health Coalitions says we have a real problem in Ontario with the way we take care of our elderly.
"This report has received some national attention because Ontario is in a situation that is very critical and in other provinces they shake their heads sadly, that a Province as wealthy as Ontario does such a poor job of taking care of their elderly." Among the key findings in the report:- There were 27 homicides in Ontario’s long-term care homes, according to the Ontario Coroner in the five years leading up to the report: a homicide rate that is 4-times that of Toronto and 8-times that of communities that are similarly-sized to Ontario’s long-term care home sector (80,000 people).
- Resident-on-resident violence has increased since 2011 and staff injury rates in long-term care are among the highest of any industry in our economy.
- Access to long-term care is poor, and even more difficult for equity-seeking groups.
- By every measure the acuity, that is the complexity and heaviness of the care needs of the residents in long-term care has increased dramatically. This is a result of massive hospital cuts: Ontario has cut more hospital beds than any other province and is almost at the bottom of OECD rankings. As a result, today’s long-term care homes are yesteryear’s chronic care and psychogeriatric hospitals, but without the same resources.- In fact, long-term care beds are funded at 1/3 the rate of chronic care beds but house residents that used to be considered chronic care or psychogeriatric care. This shift is saving money at the expense of the health and safety of the vulnerable residents in long-term care and their care staff.
Doug did nothing. Until he had to. Until he was forced to save face. And still he's coming up short! Despite his massive fails the Washington Post actually gave him some fawning coverage. Which, quite frankly, blows my mind! Great leader? I don't think so. Do you need some additional evidence of Doug Ford's continuing failure?From yesterday-TribuneImage from Tribune Article linked above
"Royal Rose is the hardest hit of six Niagara long-term care homes with COVID-19 outbreaks. It has seen 66 residents and 44 staff contract the virus.
So many staff have been infected that the residence has asked staff who have tested positive for COVID-19 but have been asymptomatic for 72 hours to return to work — an action Niagara's public health department, which has found several asymptomatic cases in long-term care homes, objects to.
That number makes the COVID-19 pandemic the most lethal outbreak in Niagara since the 2011 C. difficile outbreaks in local hospitals which claimed 37 lives. Long-term care residents make up nearly 86 per cent of the total COVID-19 deaths in Niagara"
Long term care homes have problems so great that any virus, any infection, would have resulted in similar if not worse results-The problem is not Covid-19. It's a systemic failure of governance.Underfunded hospitals. Underfunded long term care homes. Hospital bed cuts. Part time staff. Under payed. Overworked. Lack of meaningful and measured inspections. It's a wide spread failure, that belongs to the present day Ford government. It is the failure of this provincial government that threatens Ontario's communities. Not to let PM Trudeau off the hook either. His concern is as much a show. His words are just as empty. And his actions are part of the larger cross country crisis.