Human Resources committee  I sincerely thank you for the opportunity to present here this evening about what CALTC is, the work that the long-term care sector is doing and how we're responding to the COVID-19 situation in Canada. My name is Jodi Hall, and I'm here today as the chair of the Canadian Associ

Human Resources committee  Pardon me. I know that Minister McKenna has noted that there are shovel-ready projects, and we're certainly hoping that in a post-pandemic period, the country will be ready to work with the long-term care sector and allow us to access the infrastructure funding to make that happ

Human Resources committee  Thank you for the question. I do think that there was an opportunity for greater collaboration among the levels of government. Some of the challenges that we have noted were exacerbated by the COVID-19 situation, but they are long-term systemic challenges. Some of the things th

Human Resources committee  Yes, I do think that there were steps that could have been taken that would absolutely have helped, especially at the beginning of the pandemic. Things have come a long way since the start of this, but at the beginning there were chronic shortages. There were a lot of unanswere

Human Resources committee  Certainly on behalf of CALTC, I would say that we have long stated that there needs to be engagement with the federal government and that work between the provinces and the federal government needs to greatly expand. As we've seen in some of the data I shared earlier, we're in th

Human Resources committee  The short answer is yes. I think there are strategies that we could work on together. Mental health is a critical issue not only for the residents in our homes but also for our workforce. We would very much like to champion developments in that regard. We have a higher percentage

Human Resources committee  As I mentioned, with the aging demographic that we have, I think the provinces are incredibly challenged to provide the level of services that we know seniors need from a health care perspective. There is a lot of opportunity, I believe, for that shared responsibility approach an

Human Resources committee  Okay. That's a hard one to answer with very succinctly. Obviously, the welfare of an individual resident is absolutely the key priority. I can't speak to the full circumstances of an individual. I'm sorry to hear that has been the experience. Care for individuals is overseen

Health committee  Thank you. I'd like to thank the members of the committee for inviting me to present here this evening.... Can you hear me okay?

Health committee  Yes. I think I'm experiencing that as well. I'm sorry.

Health committee  Thank you for the opportunity to speak to the committee this evening. The Canadian Association for Long Term Care is the leading voice for quality care in Canada. Our members deliver publicly funded health care services to seniors right across the country. I will start by ackno

Health committee  Yes, those are absolutely factors. As I had outlined earlier in terms of the overall condition of the infrastructure in homes, especially older facilities, they were designed for a different generation, a different type of individual who required care. When we look to who we are

Health committee  I think that everyone became extremely aware of the situation in early March. In individual care homes and certainly with colleagues of mine across the country, the discussions were very active and robust as we worked to see what was happening internationally and were starting to

Health committee  That's correct. Our point was that there was a disconnect between some of the recommendations that were being made when you compared that to the reality on the ground and what could actually be operationalized.

Health committee  It is critical that we have access to an appropriate workforce. It does give me pause to think about any particular mandate being given to a group who may not necessarily have a desire or an aptitude. Caring for frail elderly is work that requires someone with great compassion an