The daughter of a 93-year-old Ontario long-term care resident said in a video posted to Twitter that she wishes she could take her mother for an ice cream.
“It’s 17 C, it’s Monday in Sutton, Ont. … right outside the long-term care home … there’s a lovely little bench. I would love to get some ice cream and sit there with my mom and have a meaningful visit,” Maureen McDermott told Global News from inside her car, parked outside River Glen Haven where her mother is a resident.
“We can’t do that and I’m sorry but there’s not one logical explanation for it, not here, not in this situation,” she said.
“We should be able to take them off the property … we can’t have a conversation in her room because it’s a ward room and there is no privacy,” she explained. “I just want to take my mom out of the patio and the parking lot, even into my car.”
“We have to focus on quality of life and not just life itself,” said palliative care physician Dr. Amit Arya.
He is calling on Ontario to ease restrictions in long-term care for the sake of residents.
“We can safely have residents go out, get some fresh air, enjoy the sunshine. That can be done with precautions,” he said. “In some other situations I’m hearing that people are still in lockdown, in solitary confinement, when we know that, of course, that itself causes harm.”
He noted that long-term care residents have already been vaccinated and “given how important quality of life is for residents we have to let people out quickly and make sure that they can enjoy time with their loved ones safely.”
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“The median life expectancy in Ontario’s long-term care homes is 18 months so basically this is where people are going to live out their last months, or their last couple of years. So this could be somebody’s last birthday to celebrate,” said Arya.
Laura Tamblyn Watts, CEO of CanAge, a national seniors advocacy organization, pointed out the situation is “not cut and dried.”
“Vaccine hesitancy amongst care workers is profound … 20 to 60 per cent we are starting to see in terms of vaccine hesitancy. Still there needs to be a point where this isolation ends and we’re concerned that we’re in a place of inertia,” she said.
Tamblyn Watts and CanAge have given the Ontario government until Tuesday to reveal a plan for long-term care homes.
“We have been asking for a clear plan from this government for a month now and every day that we are waiting to get a clear plan more seniors are suffering behind closed doors, cut off from their families,” she said.
Tamblyn Watts is concerned the impact of isolation on seniors in long-term care will be severe.
“We are seeing residents who have a significantly worsened ability to walk, to toilet, profound cognitive impairment, we’re seeing residents saying, ‘life is not worth living in this way.’ We have people who have essentially been locked in their individual rooms for a year. They are imprisoned,” she said.
McDermott is relieved she had some time with her mother, and said she is hopeful that “changes could be coming.”
“We’re missing so many lasts … time is not on our side. Time is not something we have and we need to stop being robbed of these last moments,” she said.
St. Patrick’s Day is “like Christmas” for McDermott but she could not attend the festivities at River Glen Haven this year because she is not permitted inside the dining room.
“The directive number three from the Ministry of Long-Term Care has not been reviewed or changed since June of 2020 and that is pathetic. I feel caregivers have been pushed right to the bottom of the pile and knock, knock, we’re here and we have rights and the residents have rights.”
A spokesperson for Minister of Long-Term Care Merrilee Fullerton told Global News, “We are nearing completion of offering both vaccine doses to all long-term care residents, and as we continue to vaccinate staff, essential care givers, and other vulnerable groups, we are seeing positive effects.
“Until more people have the opportunity to receive the vaccine, we must continue to be vigilant in following public health guidance, especially as we are seeing the spread of variants of concern.”
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