It's been over a year now, but in the beginning, as you will recall, there were shelter at home orders, so really it was about getting groceries, medications and meals to seniors. That sort of faded a bit, as what came to the forefront was what was happening in long-term care. That became a continued focus as family members continued to be separated from their loved ones for what will now be over a year. That shifted as well.
I do think the issues around the lack of supports in the community that were there before COVID certainly was revealed more starkly during COVID. I think that's a theme you'll probably hear quite frequently, that these are not problems created by COVID, but these were problems exposed by COVID.
Most of us knew of these problems. I would say for me what was new—or under-appreciated might be a better way of putting it—is the degree to which we heavily marginalize the role that family members play. We saw that in our approach to visits in long-term care. We really have a lot of introspection and soul-searching to do as a clinical community. Basically, we pushed families out of the way and said, “Let us do our job; you're a visitor.” Different provinces dealt with it differently over time.
This issue around home care and supporting seniors at home I think is going to become more pronounced because, although the desire was there before, as we experience COVID, there is going to be even greater desire for people to stay at home. We need more federal level, and I don't know if leadership is the right word, but enforced standards and expectations around what people receive in terms of help at home.