Re: Family Seeks class-action suit over bedsores, Oct. 20

Family Seeks class-action suit over bedsores, Oct. 20

Ontario’s kids and its seniors living in nursing homes are vulnerable. Child-to-staff ratios mandated by provincial law help protect the kids while there are no such regulations for these seniors. This is ageism – discrimination.

Recommendations have been made to reform Ontario’s Long-Term Care Homes Act (LTCHA) to include similar ratios the kids have – so far the LTCHA remains the same.

This article explains the events leading up to Arthur Jones’ tragic and needless death. Each day these same events occur separately but repeatedly across Ontario, and were discussed in a 2014 report by the union representing nursing home staff. This report explained how these events are attributable to chronic short staffing and recommended mandatory and legislated staff-to-resident ratios to fix these problems.

Under Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms, everyone living in Canada has the right to security of the person. These seniors injured as a result of short staffing, including Mr. Jones who tragically and needlessly died, must have their constitutional rights protected by reforming the LTCHA to include mandatory staff-to-resident ratios.

It will be interesting to see how the lawsuit against Revera unfolds; however, the Supreme Court of Canada needs to address the lack of staff-to-resident ratios in the LTCHA to begin the process of rectifying that statute’s unconstitutionality.

Darryl Etcher, Oshawa

The experience of the family whose father died from complications from a pressure injury was indeed sad — all the more so because these sorts of wounds can, in many cases (not all) be either prevented or healed. Over the past 20+ years, as a wound care specialist, educator and researcher, I have seen the unfortunate consequences of lack of knowledge, inappropriate treatments and lack of specialist access.

Sadly, over this time, not much as improved. Education for medical and nursing students has virtually nothing relating to chronic wound care. I have taught wound care workshops for nurses, students and physicians for the past decade across Canada, and hear the same thing: “Why didn’t we learn this in school?”

Wound care is not exciting or sexy, to be sure. But it costs lives and our tax dollars — billions of dollars per year across the country. There needs to be a shift in how we as a society care for those at high risk of skin breakdown.

Funding for wound care education, best practice documentation systems and outcome measurements (including research dollars) needs to be a priority, not ignored — as wounds like this unfortunately often are, until it’s too late.

Rosemary Kohr, Douglas, N.B.

Moira Welsh’s article was heart-breaking to read, and ignited again the trauma our family is encountering while we also find ourselves in the midst of a lawsuit with a Durham region nursing home for negligence in the death of our mother.

A wonderful woman whose family, like that of Arthur Ross Jones, entrusted long-term care with their most precious loved one, only to be left the horrors of a senseless death. When will the government recognize this crisis rather than facilitating yet another hushed settlement where the dollar value of an elderly person’s life in minimized, and little changes as we await the next victim?

Rosemary Forbes Dufresne, Toronto

My mother lived in a municipally run long-term-care centre for the last two years of her life. We chose to have her in a facility that was not for profit and fortunately for us we only had a six-month wait.

People with elderly parents who are looking for an appropriate LTC facility should understand the difference between the two types of centres: private and public.

The monthly fee charged for a resident is set by the Ontario government and it applies to every single LTC centre in the province. Municipally run facilities put all monies received back into the centre, to the benefit of the residents.

Unfortunately, for-profit LTC centres (that usually belong to a chain) get no more funding than the municipally run ones but are obligated as private facilities to turn a profit for their shareholders.

Therefore it is no mystery that these facilities are stretched, cut corners, and that the staffs have too many patients to look after.

Janet Ball, Thornhill