Long-Term Care

Ontario's COVID vaccine passport system isn't all it's cracked up to be. In an open letter to Premier Doug Ford, Cardus contends the passport policy "intrudes deeply into personal autonomy, yet fails the balancing test. It is an unjustified, unnecessary, and harmful overreach, with serious short- and long-term consequences." Cardus Vice-President of External Affairs Brian Dijkema explains why on Hamilton's CHML Radio. Photo by Matt Botsford on Unsplash

While the coronavirus pandemic has put a spotlight on obvious failures in long-term care in Ontario and across Canada, experts say change will require a re-imagining of the entire system in addition to ambitious reforms. Cardus's Johanna Lewis spoke with Global news, "It’s tragic that it took a pandemic for people to really start to pay attention to the problems that are happening in long-term care, but I do see a very good opportunity for change; for not just tweaks to the system, but for real, deep reform, bold reform." 

What might be the best way forward?  Cardus Executive Vice President Ray Pennings joins the John Oakley Show to discuss. Current conversations about the "side effects" of COVID-19 are centred around economic effects. But that isn't the only impact of the measures to reduce the number of deaths from the pandemic. There will be short-term, direct deaths from the disease, and there will be long-term deaths from the complications of both the disease and the actions taken to slow its spread. Ray and John discuss ways to shift our collective thinking to big picture and long-term to protect life the best ways possible.