FORD TORIES CONSIDER BRINGING IN MILITARY TO HELP IN HARD HIT SECOND WAVE NURSING HOMES

Dec 31, 2020

By Jane Brown

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As the second wave of COVID-19 continues to cause devastation in some of the province’s long term care homes including Tendercare Living in Scarborough, Ontario’s Associate Medical Officer of Health is not ruling out a decision to bring in the military to assist.

But Doctor Barbara Yaffe admits it’s difficult to identify at what point that should happen.

“Certainly it’s a consideration, as is potentially bringing in the Canadian Red Cross, which has offered it’s services and depending on what the needs are has been taken up,” Yaffe explained, So these are all considerations. I can’t tell you the exact breaking point.”

Forty-eight residents at Tendercare have died in the second wave of COVID-19 after contracting the virus. Across the province, there have been 904 second wave deaths in nursing homes … 192 of which remain in outbreak.

Dr. Vivian Stamatopolous is a long term care advocate and told Zoomer Radio’s Fight Back with guest host Jane Brown, there simply are not enough trained nurses working in Ontario nursing homes through this healthcare crisis.

“This is when you need the most skilled healthcare professionals in there, which is why we’ve been calling on the military because the military have nursing teams. We need more nurses, then we need PSWs. What we don’t need are resident care aids and volunteers who don’t have healthcare training and expertise to be thrown in unfairly into the most dangerous sector and that’s exactly what are government is doing,” Dr. Stamatopolous explained.

Listen to Jane’s full conversation with Dr. Stamatopolous, NDP Leader Andrea Horwath and CARP’s Chief Marketing Officer David Cravit by clicking here.

Dr. Stamatopolous is among the critics calling for a change in leadership in Ontario’s long term care ministry.

A petition by the Zoomers’ Group CARP, calling on Premier Doug Ford to remove Dr. Merrilee Fullerton as LTC minister has garnered more than 4600 signatures as of December 31st. Add your name by going to carp.ca.

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