COVID-19 shows Canada must rethink how it cares for the elderly, health minister says

OTTAWA-The ravages of coronavirus on nursing homes and long term care centres must come with a "silver lining" that forces Canadians to rethink how we care for people in them, federal Health Minister Patty Hajdu says.

Calling this a "large project for Canada," Hajdu said the country places too little value on caring for vulnerable people and that the COVID-19 pandemic is a chance to change how we compensate caregivers, maintain facilities for the elderly and even "conceptualize aging."

Facing concerns about staffing and equipment shortages at facilities bearing the brunt of the pandemic in Canada, the federal government is also now in talks with the provinces to boost wages for long term care workers.

But Hajdu said the country needs to go beyond that and reimagine a system that she characterized as placing more value on "people who cared for vehicles " than people who cared for people" in nursing homes.

"All of us in this room are going to end up there, and these are our mothers and our fathers and our grandparents and our aunts and uncles," Hajdu told reporters on Parliament Hill on Tuesday.

"In every crisis there's a silver lining, and the silver lining for us is " to think about how we will move forward from this time and really refocus our efforts to make sure that everybody has an opportunity to age in dignity with the care that they deserve at the end of their lives," she said.

The novel coronavirus has so far hit seniors the hardest in Canada, with federal data - which is reported to Ottawa by the provinces and still doesn't include information for all cases - suggesting people aged 60 and older represent the vast majority of hospitalizations and deaths from COVID-19. On Monday, Canada's chief public health officer, Dr. Theresa Tam, said about half of those killed by the virus were linked to long-term care homes where the virus has exacted a grim toll in recent weeks.

One expert told the Star this week that risks in these homes are "skyrocketing" as the risk of death for people in long-term care is 10 to 20 times higher than the same age-groups living outside facilities.

On Tuesday, Ontario imposed a mandatory order to restrict employees of long term care facilities to working at a single location. Premier Doug Ford said Ontario will send new medical teams of doctors and nurses to help care for people in hard-hit facilities.

COVID-19 outbreaks have struck 93 nursing homes in Ontario where at least 135 people have died, healthy ministry officials said Tuesday. That includes the Pinecrest home in Bobcaygeon, where almost half the residents have died during the pandemic.

Quebec has identified about 30 long term care facilities in which more than 15 per cent of residents were infected. In the Montreal-area city of Dorval, police have launched a criminal investigation after what Premier Franiois Legault called "gross negligence" at the Residence Hi(C)ron, where a volunteer nurse reported finding patients abandoned by staff and begging for water, while lying on bed sheets soaked with urine and feces.

Legault said Tuesday that the situation in long term care homes is the province's "great priority," with growing shortages of care workers that now amount to 1,250 absent staff. The province is working to transfer hospital workers to fill in, and called on doctors, nurses and health-care teachers across the province to volunteer to work in these homes. "We need you," he said.

Speaking outside Rideau Cottage, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Tuesday that "terrible and tragic stories" have emerged from long term care homes. His government recently released new voluntary guidelines to curb the spread of the virus in these centres, but Trudeau said more needs to be done to protect seniors.

Trudeau said Ottawa is in talks with provinces to follow Quebec's decision earlier this month to increase wages for long term care workers and may chip in federal dollars to make it happen.

"We are willing to participate in sending money to the provinces to help " and we're having discussions with the provinces about what that is. But there are very different needs and situations right across the country, and we're continuing to work with different provinces on their different priorities," he said.

Treasury Board President Jean-Yves Duclos added later that the Canadian Armed Forces have medical expertise that could be useful if provinces call for help from the military.

With the pandemic hammering Canada's seniors the hardest, Trudeau said the crisis still requires all Canadians to stick to social distancing and isolation measures. The government moved to place stricter regulations on that front, with a new order coming into effect overnight Tuesday that will force Canadians returning from abroad to quarantine in government-paid hotel rooms for two weeks if they fail to produce a "credible" isolation plan.

Since March 25, Ottawa has ordered all travellers arriving in Canada to sequester themselves at home for 14 days, under the threat of fines of up to $1 million - and up to three years in prison - for the most serious violations that put others' lives in danger.

Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said people arriving in Canada will be "forbidden to isolate in a place where they would be in contact with people who are vulnerable," such as adults who are 65 or older and those with pre-existing medical conditions. Travellers will also need to confirm they have a place to stay for two weeks that has access to necessities like food and medicine.

If they don't, the government will force them to quarantine for two weeks in facilities like a hotel paid for by Ottawa, she said.

At his own news conference Tuesday, Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer said recently released government documents and "security reports" suggest the federal government was not sufficiently prepared for the pandemic, and was slow to restrict travel into the country.

"Our borders remained open, even as others closed theirs to protect the health and safety of their citizens," Scheer said.

"Canadians were repeatedly told that the public health risk was low. Strict public health measures were brought in just a few days later."

The federal government has repeatedly insisted it has followed the advice of public health experts, which has evolved as the pandemic grew in recent weeks.

With files from Rob Ferguson, Sandro Contenta and Alex Boutilier

Alex Ballingall is an Ottawa-based reporter covering national politics. Follow him on Twitter: @aballinga