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Canada! COVID-19 Uncovers a Hidden Sin Imagine having an elderly loved one in a care facility and waking up to read a news report like this: “Elderly residents left soiled and unfed after their caregivers fled the premises, 31 deaths in the space of a few weeks: a nursing home in Montreal has become the symbol of the terrible toll coronavirus is taking in Canada’s long-term care homes” (“Horrors revealed at virus-hit Canada nursing home,” The Japan Times, April 19, 2020). The horrifying situation found on the premises of a Montreal care home during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic was so appalling it made international news. The Japan Times continues: “Called to the rescue after most of the staff deserted the facility, health authorities found residents dehydrated, unfed for days and lying listless in bed, some covered in excrement. Others had fallen to the floor. Two deaths had gone unnoticed for several days.” Alas, similar conditions were found in numerous other places across the nation as well. The unusual number of patients succumbing to the COVID-19 virus in these facilities alerted health authorities to the situation. Exposed by the Pandemic The coronavirus pandemic has become a modern tragedy throughout much of the world, but in Canada it has revealed the dark secret that many of the elderly are living out their last days in facilities that, while made to look pleasant outwardly, are all too frequently places of neglect. While this is not true of all such homes, too many cases have been uncovered during the pandemic that demand both attention and action to correct a grievous wrong. Dr. Susan Braedley, Associate Professor at Carleton University in Ottawa, reacted to these
10 Tomorrow’s World | September-October 2020
discoveries in a recent article in which she asked how such appalling conditions could have developed in one of the richest nations on earth: How did we permit our governments to plan systems that are woefully underfunded and unable to provide safe, respectful and dignified care?… As a society, we tend to devalue and denigrate any adult who is unable to look after themselves, develops disabilities, or cannot “keep up” with the onslaught of rapid social change…. We don’t like seeing older faces and bodies, we stop listening to older voices and minds (“Our long-term care system is failing because we are ageist,” Edmonton Journal, May 27, 2020). Braedley highlights that “ageism” in Canadian society—and perhaps in other nations—leads to minimizing the funds spent on caring for elderly people who need assistance. Ageism shapes the public attitude toward caregiving: “Our society has a bad attitude toward care work. We have told ourselves it is work that ‘anyone can do.’” She correctly points out the error in that reasoning: “It takes training and experience to learn how to develop relationships with people who are in pain, confused, or feeling acutely vulnerable, lonely, and scared of death.” Braedley goes on to explain that knowledge and skills are needed to help those suffering from dementia, to support frail people with stiff or aching joints, to patiently feed and enhance the social experience of the meals of someone struggling with swallowing, and to make the whole of their lives easier and happier.
TomorrowsWorld.org
