Coronavirus has disproportionately impacted the most vulnerable seniors. We need socially innovative solutions to redesign long-term care and help seniors age safely and with dignity.
Social isolation can be hard for people living in long-term care homes, make sure to schedule window visits while lockdowns are in place.
(Shutterstock)
As people living in long-term care homes brave another lockdown, communication is key and the presence of family members (virtually or through the window) is needed.
Jonathan Marchand, a 43-year-old man living with muscular dystrophy, protested in a cage near the Québec legislature, in Québec City, on Aug. 13, 2020.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Mathieu Belanger
We must support disabled people’s call to abolish long-term care and develop a national home care, palliative care and pharmacare system that funds and prioritizes their desire to live in communities.
With means-tested support, those who are less well-off will end up losing more of their assets to pay for their care.
pikselstock | Shutterstock
Universities can have a role forming age-conscious students: those who aren’t ageist, don’t fear aging and are attuned to the aging process.
People protest outside the Tendercare Living Centre long-term care facility during the COVID-19 pandemic in Scarborough, Ont., in December 2020.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette
A study shows the COVID-19 pandemic has made Canadians fear sub-standard and dangerous living conditions in nursing homes. They want home care, and tax policies that will support it.
NDP leader Jagmeet Singh held a news conference in front of a long-term care home in Mississauga, Ont. on Aug. 24.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson
National policies could improve long-term care, but major party election platforms do not address the pressing needs of seniors in care, even after the catastrophic toll of COVID-19 in care homes.
The isolation of long-term care homes to protect residents from COVID-19 revealed how much care was coming from visiting family members.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz
The need for more child-care and elder-care spots is growing, but the COVID-19 pandemic proves that for-profit facilities are not the answer.
In the absence of guidelines or training regarding sexual expression in long-term care homes, most staff are ‘just winging it’ on potentially sensitive issues.
(Shutterstock)
In the absence of guidelines or training regarding sexual expression in long-term care homes, most staff are ‘just winging it’ on potentially sensitive issues.
Paramedics walk gurneys back to a multi-patient transport bus at Kingston General Hospital on April 30 after dropping off COVID-19 patients from the Toronto area.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Lars Hagberg
The need to transfer 2,500 COVID-19 patients around Ontario, and bring in extra doctors from other provinces, exposes two fallacies about Canada’s health-care system.
A resident chats with workers at Orchard Villa Long-Term Care in Pickering, Ont., in June 2020.
(THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn)
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the scarcity of resources in long-term care. But it has also revealed how staff are undervalued.
A personal support worker with West Neighbourhood House’s Parkdale Assisted Living Program on her way to see a resident at Toronto’s May Robinson apartments seniors’ housing on April 17 2020.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young
One of the factors that has made COVID-19 so catastrophic in long-term care homes was lack of paid sick leave for low-wage workers.
People protest outside the Tendercare Living Centre long-term-care facility in Scarborough, Ont. on Dec. 29, 2020. This LTC home has been hit hard by the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
(THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette)
Canadians are living longer, but are they living well? The challenges to aging well go beyond the problems in long-term care. Substantial change to Canada’s support service systems is long overdue.
Hospital support workers wave to cars honking their horns in support as the protest inequality for essential workers at Rouge Valley Hospital in Toronto in June 2020.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn
Naturally occurring retirement communities, or NORCs, are unplanned communities that have a high proportion of older residents. They may be critical to finding housing solutions for aging Canadians.
Personal support workers are in high demand - as this sign from Markham, ON indicates. They are an integral part of the healthcare system, but are racialized and underpaid.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn
Personal support workers are crucial but under-appreciated in the health-care system. They are often subjected to racism, and they struggle to make ends meet while caring for our most vulnerable.
At a Midwest nursing home, a healthcare worker opens a glass panel to allow a visitor to safely talk with a resident.
Getty Images / wanderluster
The stigma that dehumanizes people living with dementia is reflected in the toll of COVID-19 in long-term care. Reforming long-term care must challenge this stigma with a new ethic of care.
We miss too much when we treat all seniors as helpless.
(Unsplash/@unitednations/Lélie Lesage)
COVID-19 public health messages often classify ‘elderly neighbours’ as in need of aid, and overlook the substantial contributions, achievements and resources of older people.