Outdated and Unacceptable Arrangements Create Tragic Situation in Quebec Seniors' HomesThe numbers of infections and deaths from COVID-19 being reported in Quebec are staggering. For example, although people 60 years old and over constitute 29 per cent of those infected, this group accounts for 99 per cent of all deaths in Quebec. It is reported that half of these deaths have been in long-term care facilities (CHSLDs) but one might suspect that number to be higher. In their daily press conference, Premier François Legault and the Director of Public Health, Horacio Arruda, referring to the high number of mortalities in these facilities in recent days -- 75, with 31(33 people are now said to have dies) in a facility in Dorval alone -- said that "the number of deaths is high but that it was to be expected, because they were in line with the predictions." They further said that the mortality rate was high among the elderly in other places such as Ontario and New York and in places where there was a "high concentration of elderly people" and that a good part of the "problems" in these facilities was due to staff absenteeism but did not explain further why this was the case. Several aspects are brushed aside in this assessment of the situation: the working conditions of the staff of these residences, which went from bad to worse with the pandemic, the dire situation of the residents of these facilities which was exacerbated by the pandemic; the difficult situation of the elderly in general, and more specifically the problem they face accessing facilities where they can live in dignity and are properly taken care of. Long-Term Care Facilities in Quebec: an Overview
- There are 1,917 facilities (it was said at the April 14 press conference of the Premier and Director of Public Health that there are now 2,600 such facilities in Quebec). - For-profit homes dominate -- 88 per cent of the homes and 91 per cent of the units. - The number of affordable units has fallen as non-profit organizations, low-cost housing, cooperatives and religious communities offer only nine per cent of units for seniors. - For most seniors, residence fees represent the greater part of their income. For example, a woman alone in a residence with a revenue of $18,000 will spend 88% of her budget on housing and services.
- The vast majority of the elderly in Quebec continue to live in their homes as late in life as they can. As was pointed out in a recent TML Weekly article on the crisis of seniors' care in British Columbia, a report of the Office of the Seniors Advocate, "A Billion Reasons to Care," proved, through analysis of the revenue and expenses of these homes, that a significant portion of the public funding that is given to private-for-profit operators specifically for care instead becomes part of the profit taken by the owners. Considering the high level of private ownership of seniors' care homes in Quebec, this would probably be a good place to start in terms of dealing with the problem. Workers and Seniors' Conditions Exacerbated by the CrisisIn recent years, there have been a number of tragedies in Quebec in seniors' care homes. In 2014, a fire broke out in such a home in Isle-Verte, where 32 seniors lost their lives. In a number of homes there have been mortalities which were deemed "avoidable," and a number of coroners' reports raised the problem of lack of personnel and also recommended that the government establish better criteria by which seniors' care homes are allowed to operate.
There is something profoundly disturbing about the attempts of governments to try to save face rather than look reality in the eye and respond or, at the very least, acknowledge the problems raised and the solutions put forth by frontline workers and their organizations that aim to protect both workers and the population in the fight against the pandemic. This crisis is bringing to light the extent to which this outdated way of dealing with things is no longer acceptable.
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The FADOQ is a
Quebec federation of seniors with 350,000 members
whose aim is to conserve and improve their quality
of life, promote their rights and value their
contribution to society. In the Outaouais, when
the directive was for the elderly to stay home,
the FADOQ called every member to see how they were
doing. In a report the FADOQ published in
2015-2016, entitled "Overview of facilities for
the elderly in Quebec," it is pointed out that the
facilities with services for the elderly are
characterized by "an overwhelming presence of
private actors at all levels for people with
reduced autonomy" and that only 17 per cent of the
155,742 accommodation units are provided by the
public sector. Other facts raised in the report
are:
- The cost of
accommodation and services is rising year after
year (which is confirmed by today's costs).
With the pandemic,
the working conditions of health care workers has
plummeted. As of last week, 604 health care
workers in Quebec had been infected with the
coronavirus. One nurse in the long-term care
facility of Ste-Dorothée in Laval where 13 people
lost their lives and 115 were infected, explained
that at one point she had to care for 45 patients
20 of them suffering from COVID-19. Other
employees have had to work in spite of flu
symptoms. Workers asking for N95 masks are told
that there are no such masks in seniors' care
homes and that if they want some, they will have
to buy them. Others have asserted their right to
refuse unsafe work only to be told that
disciplinary measures would be taken against them.
Long-term care facilities have been taking care of
more and more COVID-19 cases, although they are
not equipped and do not have the same protection
as hospitals.