Health care workers from North Bay, New Liskeard, Temiskaming and Sturgeon Falls are heading to Queen’s Park on tomorrow.
They are among hundreds of people from across Ontario – many of them long-term care (LTC) staff – boarding buses early in the morning from their communities to take part in the ceremony of remembrance in downtown Toronto, in memory of 29 long-term care residents killed as a result of violence by other residents in Ontario nursing homes since 2001.
Bus is leaving Timmins at 2 a.m. tomorrow and will arrive in North Bay by 6 a.m.
That bus will leave North Bay from Memorial Gardens at 6:30 a.m. and pick up people in Powassan and Huntsville.
2015 marks the 10-year anniversary of the Casa Verde Inquest into the tragic deaths (in 2001) of two long-term care residents at that home.
"A minimum care standard for residents and improved staffing levels in long-term care homes are among the inquest jury's 85 recommendations that have never been implemented by the Ontario government," says a news release from CUPE.
The memorial event is organized by the Ontario Health Coalition (OHC) to coincide with the International Day of Older Persons, and includes both a memorial procession and memorial ceremony.
"When first elected in 2003 the Liberal government promised to legislative a minimum daily care standard for long-term care residents. Not only have the Liberals failed to deliver on that promise, but today many stakeholders from the LTC sector agree, provincial funding is too low to provide adequate care for residents with complex conditions, including dementia and long-term care homes are making significant cuts to care, programs and staff," the release continues.
