Fear, stress factors in staffing shortages at Ontario’s long-term care homes amid COVID-19 crisis

Laura Tamblyn Watts, CEO of CanAge – Canada’s National Seniors advocacy organization, says one of the reasons LTCs were able to get by with existing staff prior to the pandemic was help from families who provided additional care. During the onset of the pandemic in March, some homes didn’t allow family members to visit loved ones as a precaution to prevent the spread of the virus. “So we have cases of people who were essentially starving to death because either they were not being fed or they weren’t getting the cues to eat that you would ordinarily get by sitting together,” Tamblyn Watts said.