WINDSOR, ON – CUPE Ontario President Fred Hahn will be in town tonight to join MPP Lisa Gretzky at a town hall forum on the current state of our health care system.
“One of the greatest problems facing our health care system is the lack of support for seniors in long-term care,” says Hahn. “Many of our aging seniors are being forced to stay in hospitals longer than necessary taking up desperately needed beds, because there aren’t enough spaces in long-term care. Even more troubling is that once they finally get a spot in a long-term care home they are not being provided the level of care they need.”
CUPE Ontario has been actively campaigning for Bill 33, the Time to Care Act that if passed would legislate a minimum care standard of four hours of hands on care a day in Ontario’s long-term care homes. Currently, the only legal guarantees for seniors living in long-term care are one on-site nurse 24 hours-a-day, and two baths a week. Canada has the lowest care levels among countries with equivalent economies, and Ontario has the lowest in Canada.
“It’s not acceptable that our loved ones, the people who spent their lives building our province and caring for our communities, are being neglected in their final years. CUPE Ontario will continue to fight until they get the care and respect they deserve,” says Hahn.
There are more than 78,000 people living in Ontario long-term care homes. The majority of residents in Ontario long-term care homes are over 85, almost three quarters have some form of Alzheimer’s or dementia, and the vast majority have mobility issues.
What: Town hall on the state of health care in Ontario
When: Wednesday, November 8, 2017
Time: 6:30 – 8:30 pm
Location: Fogolar Furlan Club, 1800 North Service Rd.
Who: Lisa Gretzky, MPP Windsor West
Fred Hahn, CUPE Ontario President
Karen Bertrand, Ontario Nurses Association
People of Windsor
CUPE is Ontario’s community union, with more than 260,000 members providing quality public services we all rely on, in every part of the province, every day. CUPE Ontario members are proud to work in social services, health care, municipalities, school boards, universities and airlines.
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For more information, contact: Sarah Jordison, CUPE Communications, 416-578-5638
