Shining a Light on the Issues in LTC
From coast to coast, Canada’s front-line healthcare heroes need our help
By Ian DeWaard, Ontario Director
In my position, I have the honour of listening to firsthand, often heartbreaking, accounts from the dedicated men and women on the front lines in the fight against COVID. Across the country, those that work in retail, education, and other sectors are diligently fighting the good fight on behalf of all Canadians.
As we have come to recognize, those in the healthcare sector, especially those providing hands-on support to our most vulnerable populations in long term care (LTC), are greatly affected by the lack of resources available to them.
This was the catalyst for Make Healthcare Hero Pay Permanent, CLAC’s first digital advocacy campaign. Over the course of its four-week run, more than 3,100 letters were sent by CLAC members and supporters across Ontario to local MPPs, the ministers of health and long-term care, and Premier Doug Ford.
The campaign, which attempted to bring focus to the staffing crisis, had three priorities:
1. To urge the government to make permanent and meaningful wage adjustments for those in the healthcare sector
2. To convince the government to revise emergency orders so that only homes in outbreak can suspend collective agreement privileges (like vacations and leaves of absence)
3. To demand that the government eliminate the wage caps imposed by Bill 124 on some workers
To understand this campaign, a bit of context is helpful.
As of December 9, more than 110 LTC homes in the province are in outbreak, with staff infections making up half of the COVID-19 cases. The death count in Ontario's long term care facilities now exceeds 2,300 and is continuing to climb at a rapid pace. Nationally, it is estimated that around 77 percent of deaths related to COVID-19 have occurred in the LTC sector.
Many Ontario LTC staff members are now approaching nine months without a meaningful break from work, and there’s no end in sight. Vacations and leaves have been cancelled and denied, and work schedules have been thrown into disarray.
Even more unfortunate is that this reality is countrywide, not just in Ontario.
Much of this struggle is due to a crisis that existed long before COVID. Funding for this sector has been choked, frozen, or capped for more than 15 years, even while patient needs and numbers have soared.
In Ontario, the provincial government has promised to bring relief by building more beds and increasing the minimum number of hours of care per day. These actions are welcome, and much overdue. But some of these solutions are years away, and other provinces have been slow to follow suit.
That is why our campaign was so important. Providing meaningful work from which front-line workers can earn a reasonable living will be the only way to attract and retain the army of staff that is needed. Crises pay is needed now, for all in the country’s front-line sectors, but also on a sustained, predictable basis as we move forward.
Creating a caring society, one that honours the now-aging generation that built our country, demands proper facilities, in proper supply, with the proper type and amount of care being provided. Workers who are well trained, well resourced, and energized to do the work will be essential. As we’ve seen, if we don’t tend to these challenges, the results will be disastrous—for Canadians from coast to coast.