Feds 'Urgently' Need To Make Private Nursing Homes Public After COVID-19 Outbreaks
Christine Collins’ brother Peter tested positive for COVID-19 less than a month after he was transferred from a hospital to Carlingview Manor in Ottawa. He was supposed to be in isolation upon arriving at the long-term care home, but on the dementia floor where he lived, residents wandered around without distancing, she said.
The home, where 61 residents have died during the pandemic, was very short staffed, Collins added. She was told the shower room was closed during the outbreak because there were not enough staff members to sanitize it between uses.
She said she “completely blame[s]” the home for Peter testing positive. Now, months later, he still has symptoms like severe migraines and shortness of breath. Collins visits her brother once a week, outside, but doesn’t feel safe going inside the home.
“I’m not sure,” Collins said at a town hall this week, “but maybe you can imagine how very angry and horrified I am to find out that my pension that I paid into for 37 years, owns Carlingview Manor as part of the Revera chain.”
WATCH: Ford warns long-term care homes to let staff access PPE. Story continues below.
As the country barrels toward a second wave of COVID-19 and new outbreaks emerge in Ontario long-term care homes, experts and members of the Ottawa Health Coalition are calling for the federal government to immediately take action to take Revera Inc. public.
The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) has 140,000 members’ pensions invested with PSP Investments, a federal agency that manages pensions for federal employees, the RCMP and Canadian Armed Forces. PSP presently owns a 100 per cent stake Revera.
Next week, the PSAC will formally present a proposal to make Revera public when leaders from the PSP Investment board meet with pension advisory committees, it said in a press release.
The Ottawa Health Coalition held a town hall Wednesday night, where speakers urged the federal government to take action and make Revera, and other...
