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Photographs from Long-term Care Rally May 8th
CUPE workers urge Liberal MPPs to make long-term care better
Minimum care standards the key to better care
Toronto Long-term care workers with the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) targeted Liberal MPPs across Ontario today with information pickets outside constituency offices pressing for minimum care standards in long-term care.
Seniors and other residents of long-term care facilities deserve better. They deserve enforceable minimum standards of care, said Candace Rennick, CUPE-Ontario Second Vice-President and President of CUPE 2280 at St. Joseph’s at Fleming in Peterborough. Rennick participated in info-pickets outside Jeff Leal’s office in Peterborough and Rick Johnson’s in Lindsay.
After years of promising minimum care standards, the McGuinty government’s special committee on long-term care has now explicitly rejected them, calling instead for ineffective mechanisms like surveys to gauge resident satisfaction. As a result, CUPE and its partner unions have revived the campaign to establish enforceable minimum care standards.
We don’t need customer satisfaction surveys to know that long-term care facilities are under-resourced and under-staffed, said Rennick. The McGuinty government must stop passing the buck to committees that aren’t looking at the right tools. It must step up with minimum standards as promised.
Hundreds of millions of dollars are being transferred into the long-term care system and this funding has not translated into bedside care or an enhanced quality of life for many seniors, said Rennick. What long-term care residents need is the accountability of a minimum standard of care of 3.5 hours per resident per day and the funding commitment to back it up.
CUPE workers and several research studies have identified 3.5 hours of care as adequate to improve the quality of life for individuals who rely on this care.
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Contact:
Candace Rennick, President, CUPE 2280, cell 705 768 2288
David Robbins, CUPE Communications, cell 613 878 1431
