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Premier Doug Ford's Ontario

zang said:
The mental health of children is a major concern. Our 7-year old daughter has really struggled with anxiety, outbursts of anger, anti-sociality, even minor self-harm since this all started. We've talked with doctors, have (literally) free access to professors of psychology and have done anything and everything we can. If all were fine with her, I'd happily say she could stay home. The longer this goes on however, the worse she's gotten, and the more she's declined. Even if it's a minor degree of normalcy that means wearing a mask all day long and keeping distant from others, being at school is still something that can ground her.

Ford's plan sucks. But there's still time to make it better and safer. His term so far has proven he is the king of backing down, after all. But superficial comparisons to what other countries have done isn't fair when a little scrutiny is applied.
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Your daughter is not alone, one of my grandkids was so afraid to enter my home to use the bathroom, I had to tell him that I had a special machine that would sanitize everything he touched and then he asked for hand sanitizer so he would not contaminate the stair handrail to get upstairs. The children on my street have been interacting and remind each other to keep distance and when they play "hoops" they each have their own ball. They have also found ways to play other games without getting close or touching. I saw them playing Simon Says and Rover Red Rover, games that kids played decades ago.
 
Thinker said:
Your daughter is not alone, one of my grandkids was so afraid to enter my home to use the bathroom, I had to tell him that I had a special machine that would sanitize everything he touched and then he asked for hand sanitizer so he would not contaminate the stair handrail to get upstairs. The children on my street have been interacting and remind each other to keep distance and when they play "hoops" they each have their own ball. They have also found ways to play other games without getting close or touching. I saw them playing Simon Says and Rover Red Rover, games that kids played decades ago.
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This is the only time I wish we lived in a house, as opposed an apartment. And if you knew me you'd know it's only for the love of my daughter. We've been pretty cautious through this all. No needless trips; a 50 minute daily walk early in the morning usually our only trip out of our apartment; getting all groceries delivered, zero public transit or busy places. Only recently have we relaxed on that a bit and invited our in-laws into our bubble. This past weekend, our daughter literally had her first in person interaction with another kid friend in five months. That night she was so frenetic – in an anxious, not necessarily happy way that involved sudden tears and yelling — she didn't go to sleep until after 10pm.

I was a stay at home dad until she went to school. I now work from home. I'd rather have her home and in her terrible twos having meltdowns and tantrums than suffering like she has been.

Kids are resilient until they're not.
 
Yeah my cousin had a kid in a condo and they moved to a townhouse in Bradford as with Corona it made things to hard.
 
Northern Light said:
You got the last part right..............class size is the biggest outstanding issue.

Your #1 is simply wrong.

A plan was commissioned...........the people who wrote said plan, ie. the President of Sick Kids, says the government is not following it, and class sizes are too large.

www.thestar.com

Class sizes vital to curbing spread of COVID-19 in schools, SickKids experts say

SickKids president and CEO says he will not back a plan to reopen schools that does not ensure proper physical distancing between students.
www.thestar.com www.thestar.com

As for BC, first, its a completely different plan; second, BC has almost 2/3 fewer active cases of Covid (at 3.7/100,000 vs Ontario at 9.3/100,000) that gives them a lot more wiggle room, both in epidemiological reality and in risk perception.

There's no accounting for Alberta, never will be.......LOL
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Quebec plan is a mess too i think.

There are issues

1. Who really wants to apply to be a teacher right now so I doubt they get many applicants.
2. A lot of teachers can't work or won't work due to health issues so levels are low.


I hope they fix this issue but looking at other jurisdiction in Canada no one has really figured out schools out well and i expect a lot of issues at first then we adapt to a norm
 
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Do NOT have the private sector MANAGE any new long-term care centres.

Doug Ford announces new long-term-care home at Humber River Hospital site

From link.

In the wake of a pandemic that has tragically exposed deficiencies in Ontario nursing homes, Premier Doug Ford is trying to fast-track construction of new long-term-care facilities.

On Tuesday, Ford unveiled the latest project at Humber River Hospital on Finch Ave. W., where a facility with up to 320 beds is to be built by the end of next year.

Mayor John Tory was on hand for the announcement, and praised the provincial government for moving at “wartime speed” to build new long-term-care beds.

Almost two-thirds of Ontario’s more than 2,800 COVID-19 deaths have been at long-term-care homes, underscoring the need for modern, safe buildings.

To that end, the province last month launched a new “accelerated build” scheme using modular construction techniques and “rapid procurement” to expedite new facilities.

In July, the government promised two homes with up to 640 beds will be built in Mississauga, while another will be constructed in Ajax with as many as 320 beds.

They will all have private or semi-private rooms to curb the spread of viruses. In some existing homes, there were four seniors were packed into one room with often devastating results.

“After years of underinvestment in long-term care, we are getting shovels in the ground faster and delivering on our commitment to build 30,000 long-term-care beds over the next decade,” said Ford.

But NDP MPP Teresa Armstrong (London-Fanshawe) said the province has added just 34 beds in the two years since Ford’s Progressive Conservatives toppled the previous Liberal government.

“We need to fundamentally change long-term care, not just make announcements about more beds in a broken system,” said Armstrong. “Long-term care is badly understaffed, underregulated, and the government no longer inspects facilities regularly.

“As a result, thousands of seniors are neglected, and their emotional well-being and health and safety are at risk. The inhumanity has been getting worse for years and years, while government after government glosses over the problem by announcing new beds they never even build.”
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WislaHD said:
I don't trust Doug to lead the charge on the file, but I do wonder if there is room in this province to set up a crown corporation for LTC facilities. Ran and operated like a business but with direct ministerial oversight and accountability.
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I'm not sure why we would reinvent the wheel.

We have some excellent non-profit providers in Ontario.

Unity Health's Providence, Baycrest, most of the City of Toronto owned facilities also performed well (though one, really, did not).

Ivan Franko also performed quite well:


I would argue there are perhaps 8 overall changes needed at the systemic level.

1) Bring all LTCs up to at least the 1998 design standards (semi-private rooms, pod-clusters, more m2 per resident etc.)

2) All new LTCs should be built with private rooms only

3) Every facility should have a pandemic plan and should be required to practice it (should include isolating staff not only to each facility, but to specific floors/units/clusters

4) Amount of money spent on food/nutrition per resident, per day, should be increased, so should the nursing budget

5) All patient beds should have enhanced diagnostics, and any for patients w/mobility difficulties should include assisted-rolling to mitigate the risk of bed sores

6) Modern standards for dementia care should be adopted which feature greater kindness, emotional support, and mental stimulation

7) Every facility should maintain isolation rooms, a minimum of 5 and at least 5 per 100 beds in the facility to help manage outbreaks.

8) Finally, there should be a staffing model predominantly built on FT staff, and like rooms, there should be a small amount of redundant capacity to deal w/illness management.

****

The remainder of the change (other than more beds) is simply turning over operations of facilities to proven providers with a very good to excellent track record.

Those with bad records should be ousted from the sector and their senior managers prohibited from working in the field for any other provider.
 
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Northern Light said:
I'm not sure why we would reinvent the wheel.

We have some excellent non-profit providers in Ontario.
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The wheel here to reinvent is scale. Non-profits are great providers and you see this in the affordable housing sector too. The problem as I see it is finding a way to deploy capital, business development, and specialized expertise to a scale that could provide the LTC needs to a growing province-wide senior population. I don't see the theoretical crown corp as replacing non-profits but rather partnering with them to mutual benefit.

Also on my mind is what to do with the existing private sector LTC facilities that are clearly failing, and in the wake of this crisis may require government intervention. I don't think you can just dump those on the non-profit sector to take over. I suppose Infrastructure Ontario could just hire a team and maintain those assets like any other asset class in lieu of a specialized crown corp.
 
WislaHD said:
The wheel here to reinvent is scale. Non-profits are great providers and you see this in the affordable housing sector too. The problem as I see it is finding a way to deploy capital, business development, and specialized expertise to a scale that could provide the LTC needs to a growing province-wide senior population. I don't see the theoretical crown corp as replacing non-profits but rather partnering with them to mutual benefit.

Also on my mind is what to do with the existing private sector LTC facilities that are clearly failing, and in the wake of this crisis may require government intervention. I don't think you can just dump those on the non-profit sector to take over. I suppose Infrastructure Ontario could just hire a team and maintain those assets like any other asset class in lieu of a specialized crown corp.
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I.O. is acting as the builder/financier of new LTC associated with hospital lands, including the just announced Humber site.

Humber is apparently talking with existing 'community partners' about the operations side.

***

Existing larger non-profits have quite a bit of ability to generate capital; Ontario has a funding formula that guarantees future revenues (patients/residents) allowing financing; and many providers are not small.

Providence as an example is part of Unity Health which is St. Michael's Hospital and St. Joe's.

UHN is in on this as well.

***

Most older facilities were required to be shut down by 2024 under previously approved rules.

I believe (but haven't confirmed) that those were loosened some, as construction of replacement beds is way behind target.
 
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