It seems like a big PR initiative to counter 100s of Drs/experts advocating an end to for-profit #LTC rolled out this wknd.(@cbc@TorontoStar)
They didn't report the facts about our collective efforts to regulate & hold accountable for-profit LTC.
Here are some (thread)> #onpoli
For those who've joined lately there has been a pitched struggle to regulate #LTC for decades. One primary eg. surprise inspections. The for-profit industry lobbies against them (with repeated success) every time we win them. Here is the history: globenewswire.com/news-release/2…
The #LTC homes industry has also pushed for the removal of regulations that require homes to have at least one Registered Nurse 24/7, advocated to hire untrained aides & other workers instead of being required to hire trained PSWs, pushed for less annual training requirements & >
... cont'd
recommended deregulation of existing requirements for admissions, use of funds, built facility, reporting and more. The #LTC industry calls this “flexibility”.
Under the emergency orders they've won the deregulation of these paltry existing staffing standards>
Another eg of the for-profit #LTC industry's power to stop regulation & accountability:
When Eric Hoskins was Health Minister he passed amendments to the #LTC homes act to enable fines up to $100,000 & suspend licenses. It passed thru the Ontario Legislature duly in late 2017. >>
...cont'd...
2018 was the election. The amendments passed by a majority in our Legislature have never been proclaimed. @fordnation has been sitting on them. Not one #LTC home has been fined thru the pandemic. No licenses revoked despite clear powers in the Act. >>
Michael Wilson, Chief of Staff for Ontario's Attorney General left Jan. 2020, lobbied for Sienna Senior Living for-profit #LTC May-June. Carly Luis, Dir of Comms for the Minister of Health lobbied for Chartwell Mar-June 2020 & previously for the for-profit dominated #LTC ass'n. >
...cont'd
In Oct. the Ford gov't passed Bill 218 & shielded the industry from liability for negligence.
The Bill was moved by the Attorney General whose chief of staff went to lobby for the industry. >
...cont'd And now we find that the former Conservative Premier who is Chair emeritus & board member of for-profit #LTC chain Revera is also Board chair for the Nat'l Institute on Ageing where the spokesppl advocating for not ending for-profit LTC are bd members/research fellows.
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The expansion of the Red Cross in Ontario's #LTC homes in crisis is welcome. BUT, heed the words of of Stéphane Parisien CAO of the region, responsible for Prescott Russell Residence,
“….it wasn't the panacea needed. "The Red Cross is not the cavalry...
thread⤵️
"There are quite a
number of limitations to what the Red Cross can do," he said. "They can help us with the
infectious protocols, but they don't provide the human resources to help us feed or
change residents." This is why we are saying if local hospitals cannot 2/7...
...provide the staff needed to help with daily hands-on care-- and we are worried that a number of arrangements with our heroic hospitals (props, truly) include only sporadic and inadequate staffing-- then we need another plan.