December 2nd, 2021

MPP urges Ford to fix LTC as residents suffer terrible neglect

MPP Tom Rakocevic raised story of LTC resident's horrific bedsore not addressed by staff

QUEEN'S PARK — NDP MPP Tom Rakocevic (Humber River—Black Creek) is asking the Ford government why his government continues to do nothing to fix chronic staffing shortages in the long-term care sector, which too often lead to gross neglect of residents.

During Thursday's question period, Rakocevic raised the story of Pamela Britton's brother Vibert, a 74-year-old resident of Cheltenham Care Community in Toronto, a for-profit long-term care facility operated by Sienna Senior Living. Vibert, who cannot speak, was so badly neglected that a bedsore on his back discovered by Britton in October hadn't been addressed properly by Nov. 5, when the wound became so badly infected Britton could smell rot through her brother's bandages.

"Vibert had gone septic — but Pamela had to fight for her brother to be taken to hospital. Britton was told by the doctor treating her brother at North York General Hospital that, had she waited any longer to bring him in, she would have lost him," Rakocevic said.

Doctors in the hospital initially put Vibert on 17 IV bags of antibiotics a day; nearly a month later, Vibert remains in hospital, and continues to receive six bags of antibiotics a day. Now, Britton is afraid that if her brother returns to Cheltenham, he might not survive.

"Pamela and Vibert's terrible story is, tragically, not unique," said Rakocevic. "Even after the horrors we all saw unfold in long-term care during the pandemic, the Ford government continues to do nothing while chronic government underfunding and understaffing of long-term care make it impossible for staff in homes like Cheltenham to give residents the care and attention they need.

"Staff are burning out and fleeing the sector, yet the Ford government refuses to invest in giving PSWs a permanent pay raise or ensuring their jobs are stable and full-time. He refuses to hire the thousands of PSWs needed to ensure each resident gets a minimum of four hours of hands-on care a day now — not years from now — or to suspend the licenses of for-profit homes that again and again, put corporate profits over residents' lives.

"No one should have to go through what Pamela and Vibert are experiencing. Ontarians deserve a government that takes urgent action to address the crisis in long-term care."