Laura Mae Lindo MPP Kitchener-Centre

Hon. Premier of Room 281 Legislative Building, Queen’s Park Toronto, ON M7A 1A1

Hon. Deputy Premier of Ontario Minister of Health Ministry of Health 5th Floor 777 Bay St. Toronto, ON M7A 2J3

Re: Long-Term Care Crisis in Kitchener and Across Ontario

May 5, 2020

Dear Premier Ford and Minister Elliott,

I am writing today to share my deep concern about the state of Long-Term Care (LTC) in my riding of Kitchener Centre, and across the Province of Ontario. We can all agree that the challenges in the LTC system are not new but rather a result of decades of neglect and lack of investment by successive provincial and federal governments.

The COVID-19 pandemic is revealing the under-belly of Ontario’s LTC homes, but these problems did not occur overnight. Seniors’ advocates, front-line workers and public sector unions have been sounding the alarm on the dangerous state of our LTC system for decades. The current situation has been described as a “state sanctioned elder abuse.” It is an understatement to say that Ontario’s seniors – Elders in our communities – deserve so much better.

You are likely aware of the developing situation at Forest Heights Revera, a Long-Term Care home in my riding of Kitchener Centre. My team has been in constant contact with front-line workers and family members of residents from the outset of their tragic story, when we learned that the first resident had tested positive for COVID-19. Two weeks ago I held a virtual conversation with front-line workers where we discussed the most pressing issues at LTC Homes like Forest Heights Revera. The systemic issues facing Personal Support Workers (PSWs), Registered Nurses, frontline cooks and cleaning staff among other dedicated staff members are not unique to Forest Heights Revera. In short, Forest Heights is indicative of long-standing challenges that exist in many of Ontario’s LTC homes.

In Waterloo Region, as of May 5, 2020 ninety people have died of COVID-19. Forty-two of those deaths have been residents at Forest Heights Revera. Front-line workers told us that the extent of the crisis could have been prevented if staff had been allowed to wear the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) that they had been fitted for at the beginning of the pandemic. Staff have shared that PPE was taken away once it was already on the floor, and that the main reason given was that residents, especially those with dementia, would be scared by the masks.

PSWs who had tested positive for COVID-19 but were asymptomatic were told that they had to continue showing up for work because staffing shortages plagued the home. Residents that had tested positive were not adequately isolated within a safe time frame, nor where they given PPE to protect other residents from contracting the virus.

The corporation that owns Forest Heights LTC home has said publicly that corrective actions have been taken to address the catastrophe at the Home, and yet last week, even when the number of residents testing positive being 162, 55 staff and 40 deaths, they did not make your list for military intervention and support. My office now receives calls from families who have lost loved ones at the home, and in their memory I am writing to tell you that my constituents and I will no longer accept excuses and band aid solutions to the crisis in LTC. Residents, their families, and the workers who are committed to providing their care have been let down by the broken LTC system and we collectively demand action not only to make it through this crisis, but to ensure that the LTC system is transformed, monitored, and provided with the investments needed to provide the care, support and love that seniors in our community deserve.

For the well-being of vulnerable seniors’, we need your government to immediately adopt new measures to address the dangerous crisis in Long-Term Care.

I echo NDP Leader ’s call for a plan that includes:

• Criteria for handing direct management of facilities over to public health • Mandated minimum staffing requirement in each home, on each shift • Mandated infection control and isolation requirements • A plan to provide personal protective equipment (PPE), including N95 masks, to all homes, and require staff wear PPE at all times • Mandate what homes must communicate to residents and their families

I look forward to hearing from you about this urgent matter.

Sincerely,

Laura Mae Lindo, MPP Kitchener Centre