In The Press
February 11, 2025
Seniors continue to ask how Pickering’s Orchard Villa gets to grow, despite harrowing COVID-19 outbreak
Group receives heavily redacted info
​
The group Seniors for Social Action Ontario believes the public has the right to know why a minister’s zoning order was issued for a 15-storey building on the site.
By Kristen Calis Pickering News Advertiser
A group of seniors urging the province to overhaul the long-term-care system in Ontario isn’t backing down from its push for more information on how the operator of a controversial home in Pickering is able to expand.
​
“This is not an ordinary facility,” said Patricia Spindel, chair of Seniors for Social Action Ontario (SSAO). “This is a facility where 78 people died, where the military was called in.”
She’s referring to the Orchard Villa long-term care home, which was hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic and continues to experience outbreaks.
November 16, 2024
Ontario retirement home’s abrupt closure shows
need for seniors’ advocates
By Nick Wells The Canadian Press
The Trillium Care Norwich retirement home gave residents two weeks’ notice of its Nov. 11 closure, forcing families to find last-minute accommodations for the 18 people who lived there.
​
The Retirement Home Regulatory Authority said the closure contravened the Retirement Homes Act, which requires a 120-day notice to residents.
But Raymond Chan, a spokesman for the regulator, said that does not mean it could stop the home from closing its doors.
November 11, 2024
‘Potential coverup’: Seniors question why province is tight-lipped over expansion plans for
Orchard Villa in Pickering
Province granted MZO for new 15-storey building on site
Seniors for Social Action Ontario wants to know why the Ontario government has ignored an order by the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario.
Kristen Callis, Pickering News Advertiser October 29, 2024
​
For almost a year now Seniors for Social Action Ontario has been trying to obtain information related to how Orchard Villa in Pickering got a 30-year license and bed expansion from the Ontario government in spite of its deplorable record outlined in the Canadian military report and inspection reports going back years.
August 15, 2024
SSAO Op Ed Published in the KW Record,
Hamilton Spectator, and St. Catharines Standard
​
The entire process of choosing home care contractors needs an independent sober second look
This is part of Seniors for Social Action Ontario's advocacy and public education strategy.
Please write letters to the editor
​
In the St. Catharines area to write a letter to the editor in support to - letters@niagaradailies.com
To the Hamilton Spectator - https://www.thespec.com/site/forms/submit_letter/
To the KW Record - letters@therecord.com
--------------------------
Home care contracts should not be a way to reward friends of any government with lucrative contracts. Ontarians deserve so much better.
​
Older and disabled Ontarians should be able to expect that their government will deliver a home-care system that is non-profit, where competitive bidding is a thing of the past, where a solid track record matters, and where profits go into direct care, rather than the pockets of wealthy corporations, Patricia Spindel writes.
August 6, 2024
SSAO Op Ed Published in the Ottawa Citizen
Print Edition and Online
Spindel: Ontario can't build its way out of the long-term care crisis
This is part of Seniors for Social Action Ontario's advocacy and public education strategy.
Please write letters to the editor - letters@ottawacitizen.com and/or go to the web page and make a comment.
No one wants to be warehoused as they age, and there are many better ways to care for our elders. Yet the province keeps sinking money into problematic institutions.
November 29, 2023
SSAO Op Ed Published in the Ottawa Citizen
Print Edition and Online
Spindel: Elders are not the problem — Ontario's bad public policy is | Ottawa Citizen
This is part of Seniors for Social Action Ontario's advocacy and public education strategy.
Please write letters to the editor - letters@ottawacitizen.com and/or go to the web page and make a comment.
Elders are not the problem — Ontario's bad public policy is
Why is all the money going to institutional long-term care instead of to non-profit community agencies and cities, which could do a better job of supporting people at home?
October 8, 2022 The Toronto Star
COVID outbreaks rise in Ontario
long-term-care homes just as weather is turning cooler
There are 150 LTC homes with active COVID outbreaks, compared to just 14 outbreaks at the same time last year and 51 at this time back in 2020.
By Kenyon Wallace Investigative Reporter
Andrew Bailey Data Analyst
October 5, 2022 - Angus Reid Institute
Information Bulletin and Analysis
Voter Remorse?
Is the Ford Government Losing Public Support Over Bill 7 and Its Handling of Health Care?
A poll just released by Angus Reid shows that 53% of Ontarians consider Bill 7 a violation of the rights of vulnerable people, and think it should not have been considered as a solution in emptying hospital beds.
September 24, 2022 - CTV News Ottawa
‘Operating on fear’: Ottawa woman speaks out about impact of new
nursing home law
​
Seniors are speaking out about the impacts of a new Ontario government bill aimed at freeing up bed space in hospitals by potentially moving patients far from their preferred destinations.
They say the bill is already taking a toll on many families. .......
Jeremie Charron, CTV News Ottawa
September 15, 2022 The Toronto Star
Families worry about loved ones’ fate under new Ontario hospital and nursing home law
Jamie Daw drew a 70 kilometre-wide radius on a map this week to show her mother how far she’d have to drive to visit her ailing husband if he’s moved to a nursing home not of his choosing under a new provincial law.
The Canadian Press
Liam Casey
CBC News - August 26, 2022
Can Ontario force hospital patients into long-term care homes? It's complicated
Government warns patients who refuse to consent could face hefty hospital bills
​Laura McQuillan · CBC News
CBC News - August 25, 2022
Pressure mounts for more answers on Ford government's controversial
long-term care bill
Ontario plans to bypass public hearings to pass Bill 7
The Globe and Mail - August 25, 2022
Ontario’s Long-Term Care Minister backs fees for elderly patients who refuse to leave hospital
Ontario Long-Term Care Minister Paul Calandra says hospitals should be encouraged to use their existing powers to charge elderly patients up to $1,800 a day for refusing to leave for an available long-term care bed, as his government pushes forward with legislation aimed at moving more people out of crowded hospital wards.
Jeff Gray Queen's Park Reporter
Dustin Cook Queen's Park Reporter
August 19, 2022 The Province
Seniors scared over forced placement to long-term care homes for Ontario patients
'Anyone over 70 right now must be shaking in their boots to think this government might force them to be placed in an institution that's not even in their own community'
The Canadian Press
Liam Casey
CBC News - July 8, 2022
Ontario's 7th wave of COVID-19 is already hitting long-term care homes
Doctors and advocates call for the return of vaccine mandates for staff in long-term care.
by Clara Pasieka · CBC News
Ottawa Citizen - April 22, 2022
Ontario ignoring lessons of pandemic, building a generation of private care homes, critics say
Three private long-term care companies, including one with among the highest death rates during the pandemic, are slated to build the bulk of new and upgraded long-term care beds in Ottawa.
By Elizabeth Payne
Toronto Star - May 27, 2022
By Marco Chown Oved Investigative Reporter
Kenyon Wallace Investigative Reporter
Ed Tubb Toronto Star