[GTranslate]TORONTO – The initial shock soon was replaced by anger. The photograph of Long Term Care Homes that emerges from a CBC News investigation is shocking. Not only are anti-contagion security protocols broken in these facilities while the Covid-19 pandemic is underway, but LTCs found red-handed are not punished for their behaviour. As they say in Italian, after the “pulling of ears”, everything ends up in “tarallucci and wine”. It’s a fact. Inspections of Ontario’s Long Term Care Homes almost never have consequences. Homes are asked to solve the problem, but even if an inspector returns and finds the same problem, there are no fines or penalties. In very rare cases, houses are forbidden to accept new residents.
No exemplary punishment, therefore, can act as a deterrent by observing the guidelines to ensure the well-being of elderly residents.
CBC News has sent the results of the inspection reports to the Ontario Department of Long-Term Care. The response was that “inspectors monitor the health, safety and quality of care for residents.”
“Continued non-compliance with anti-infection preventive and security measures, is a serious concern and can lead to serious measures and sanctions by the ministry,” the statement reads.
However, CBC News’ investigations have led to the discovery that many homes that have been cited for problems that were repeated over time, they have not been affected.
And what is also impressive is the lightness and lack of respect for human life of the managers of these facilities in Ontario who ten months after the start of the pandemic were still caught violating the crucial measures of infection prevention and control. Between June 2020 and January this year, one in 12 LTC was caught breaking specific government directives for Covid-19. “LTC operators, where there have been serious violations in terms of non-compliance with standard operating procedures for things like infection prevention and control, should be held accountable,” Dr. Nathan Stall, a geriatrician at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, said bluntly.
On the other hand, according to the province, the death toll from Covid-19 in the province’s LTC homes until yesterday was 3,746 residents. Of these deaths, 1,848 occurred before August 31, 2020, meaning the second peak in long-term care homes was even more deadly than the first.
Surface screening is a frequent problem in homes: in many cases, visitors have not been asked any questions, no body temperature has been detected, and the use of the mask at the entrance to the premises has not been controlled.
Some of the provincial inspectors’ reports also detail long lists of infection control issues.
22% of the breaches occurred in LTC owned or operated by Extendicare which with its 69 homes is one of Ontario’s largest long-term service operators. Caressant Care, which owns 15 homes in Ontario, has 20% violations.
Other large chains such as Sienna Senior Living and Revera accounted for 3% and 5% of the breaches found, respectively.
At Caressant Care Listowel Nursing Home, which is west of Toronto, where an outbreak infected nearly all residents of the home in January, an inspector found 12 serious violations of infection control during the outbreak. In all, 43 residents and 26 employees were infected and 13 elderly people died.
Violations included staff who were not aware of the protective equipment to wear and did not wash their hands after caring for residents. Staff also worked with both positive and negative residents to the virus, and hand disinfectant was not available in all areas in the nursing home.
Tamara Daly, director of York University’s Centre for Aging Research and Education, was not surprised by the results of the survey: “Being in long-term care is very different from being in a hospital bed – she said – you are there to live. And I think what’s essentially been done is to remove that part of their care, the part that makes life worth living.”
