National

Groups question delay in B.C. care home report

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 25 Jan, 2021 08:04 PM

British Columbia plans to release a report on COVID-19 outbreaks in long-term care homes today, but stakeholders consulted and the Opposition Liberals are questioning why the document wasn't released earlier.

The Ministry of Health commissioned the report by Ernst & Young to learn lessons from the first wave of the pandemic, and more than 40 groups were consulted and it was completed in the fall.

Mike Klassen, vice-president of public affairs with the B.C. Care Providers Association, says his group is concerned both about the delay in the report being released as well as the possibility that recommendations in it could have been acted upon sooner.

Health Minister Adrian Dix said last week that his government has implemented all the recommendations in the report and its assessment of the province's actions was "overwhelmingly favourable."

Opposition Leader Shirley Bond has said that people who had friends or relatives die in long-term care from COVID-19 deserve answers.

More than half of B.C.'s deaths from COVID-19 have been in long-term care facilities.

Jen Lyle, the chief executive officer of SafeCare B.C., says seeing the report earlier would have been nice but at this point just being able to see it will be help inform future pandemic responses.

Lyle says her group had flagged several concerns, including the confusion around messaging and orders from the province compared to local health authorities.

She adds that she hopes the health ministry looks into addressing the issues of staff shortages and access for mental health support for workers.

The B.C. Care Providers Association released their own report examining the response to COVID-19 in seniors care in November, and Klassen says the organization is interested to see what recommendations the government-commissioned report may have that are different.

"We're still seeing outbreaks, we're still seeing fatalities," he says. "Are there things we haven't done yet that our group and perhaps the people that were spoken to in this report have recommended and haven't been acted upon yet?"

Prev Next

MORE National ARTICLES

Conservatives gear up to grill government in modified return of House of Commons propose and oppose: Tories

Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer laid out Monday the numerous lines of inquiry his party intends to follow this week as a modified version of a House of Commons sitting gets underway. They include the state of the nation's emergency supply stockpile, the mishmash of federal economic benefit programs that allow some to fall through the cracks and to what extent the minority Liberals are backstopping provincial efforts to reopen their economies, Scheer said.

Conservatives gear up to grill government in modified return of House of Commons propose and oppose: Tories

Learning to live with COVID-19 requires permanent fixes to vulnerable settings

Canada's chief public health officer warned Monday there is still a lot we don't know about the virus that causes COVID-19, but said stopping this pandemic or preventing a future one will require more than just physical distancing and handwashing. Dr. Theresa Tam said we simply do not know yet whether someone who has had COVID-19 will be immune from getting it again, or how long that immunity will last.

Learning to live with COVID-19 requires permanent fixes to vulnerable settings

B.C. university creates institute to take microscope-telescope view of pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has placed the world at a tipping point that's challenging social, political, economic and environmental structures, says the director of a new academic research institute at British Columbia's Royal Roads University. Dr. Thomas Homer-Dixon said Monday the pandemic is an event with the power to cause those structures to fall like dominos or shift radically to new paths.

B.C. university creates institute to take microscope-telescope view of pandemic

Drugs and cash seized from a Whalley area residence in Surrey

Illicit drugs and cash have been seized from a residence in the Whalley area following an investigation by the Surrey RCMP. The investigation began on March 5th, 2020 by the Surrey RCMP Community Response Unit (CRU). CRU observed suspicious activity consistent with drug trafficking at a residence in the 11400 block of 124 street.

Drugs and cash seized from a Whalley area residence in Surrey

Police say B.C. woman whose disappearance sparked wide search found dead in Burnaby

The body of a missing British Columbia woman has been found two months after she disappeared. A statement from New Westminster police says the body believed to be that of Nirla Sharma was discovered Sunday along the Fraser River between New Westminster and Burnaby. The woman's disappearance from her New Westminster home sparked a major search in late February.

Police say B.C. woman whose disappearance sparked wide search found dead in Burnaby

PM Trudeau says nearly 10,000 businesses apply for wage subsidy in first hours

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says nearly 10,000 businesses have applied for the federal government's wage-subsidy program to help them deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. The emergency measure will cover 75 per cent of wages for employers that have seen sharp declines in revenue since the novel coronavirus hit Canada hard in March, up to $847 per worker.