In The News
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'It's still an institution:' Advocates urge radical change for LTC
By Joanne Laucius
Op-Ed -
The Hamilton Spectator Wed., Mar. 3, 2021
Relationships matter in eldercare
By Rachel Barken and Douglas J. Cartan
Op-Ed -
Special to Waterloo Region Record Mon., Feb. 1, 2021
Time to Shift Our Thinking on Long Term Care
By John Lord, Contributor
Op-Ed - Toronto Star - Dec 30, 2020
Time to provide funding and real choice in long-term care
By Judith Sandys Contributor
Patricia Spindel Contributor
Only a fraction of long-term-care residents killed by COVID-19 were taken to hospital. A Mount Sinai doctor says the system ‘shut them out’ with beds available
By Kenyon Wallace Investigative Reporter
Sun., Dec. 6, 2020
For-profit long-term-care homes once again seeing significantly worse outcomes in Ontario’s second wave, Star analysis finds
By Ed Tubb Toronto Star
Kenyon Wallace Investigative Reporter
Marco Chown Oved Staff Reporter
Fri., Nov. 13, 2020
Long-term-care homes that violate legislation designed to protect residents rarely face orders to comply from Ontario’s top enforcement official, Star investigation finds
By Kenyon Wallace Investigative Reporter
Toronto Star, Sat., Nov. 7, 2020
...“The inspection branch is so weak that the law is literally unenforceable,” said Patricia Spindel, co-founder of Seniors For Social Action Ontario (SSAO), a group of social activists calling for in-home and residential care in the community as an alternative to institutions.
“These operators are let off the hook even after repeated compliance orders and director’s orders. They just go about their business as usual and don’t have to take the inspection service seriously at all.”...
"Patricia Spindel, co-founder of Seniors For Social Action Ontario, a group of social activists from across Ontario, said the fact that the Red Cross is going into Ontario nursing homes “should tell us all we need to know about the fact that these institutions are disaster areas.”
A week and a half ago, the federal government gave the go-ahead to the Red Cross to go into seven Ottawa-area long-term-care homes dealing with serious outbreaks.
“It’s time to downsize and ultimately eliminate (long-term-care homes) in favour of small community group homes and in-home attendant care and paid caregiver programs,” Spindel said. “Nursing homes are unsustainable. Period. Taxpayers and the public sector — hospitals, health units, the military, and now even the Red Cross are having to bail them out.”