A military report was released this week detailing the poor conditions of five long-term care homes in the province.
The 14-page report outlined what work the military members that were deployed to help those homes deal with the COVID-19 pandemic did and what they saw during their time there.
In the report, there were allegations that included residents skin breaking down because they were left too long in soiled undergarments, a prevalence of pressure ulcers because they were not being turned often enough, fecal contamination in resident’s rooms, and infestations of cockroaches and ants.
“It was shocking,” Chair of Long-Term Care for Hastings County and Mayor of Bancroft Paul Jenkins tells the MyBancroftNow.com newsroom. “There has been a monetary shortfall for a considerable amount of time.”
The federal government has agreed to keep the military in those five homes, and will also be inspecting 13 other homes over the next month. The feds say they will also be doing random spot checks of other homes throughout the province.
Questions have been raised about public sector versus private sector operation for long-term care homes and how this has been an on-going problem. There have been calls for Minister of Long-Term Care Merrilee Fullerton to be fired, but Jenkins doesn’t agree with that. “She’s been on the job for a year now,” he says, adding that this has been a problem that pre-dates her time in office. “I think you have to dig far deeper into the system than just go to the top.”
“In the private sector, they’re there to make a profit,” Jenkins says. “I personally don’t believe that the money is there to serve adequately serve the residents, staff properly, put in the proper programs and still be able to make a profit.” Jenkins says an example of how public sector funding benefiting long-term care homes is the outbreak that happened at the Hastings Manor in Belleville. Hastings County EMS was able to offer assistance during the outbreak
“In my opinion go out and find the ones that are working really well, fund them adequately and make that the model,” Jenkins suggests.
Jenkins says he’s “sure” the conversation will be had about public sector operation of long-term care homes now that the military’s report has been released. “It’s an on-going topic,” he says. “Let’s hope it’s not something that drags on too long.”
